Ambassador:Cameron's China Visit "Historic"

Over the next few days China will host the largest ever group of ministers from the UK to visit the country at the same time. Just days before the delegation arrives CRI's Dominic Swire spoke with Sebastian Wood, Britain's ambassador to China, about the historic event.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron will be joined by four top ministers including Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the Secretaries of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Environment, and Education. British Ambassador in Beijing Sebastian Wood says the visit is nothing less than a historic moment in bilateral ties.
"All of these ministers will be in China at the same time. Vince Cable, George Osborne, Chris Huhne and Michael Gove will all participate in the summit between David Cameron and Wen Jiao Bao. So this is a major opportunity for the two countries to push relations forward in a number of areas. And I think it's fair to say it's a historic moment in our relationship."

The ministers will be joined by a delegation of around 50 of the UK's top business leaders. One of their key aims will be to strengthen commercial ties between the two countries.

"The UK is one of the most open economies in the world. So we hope that the UK and China will together send a strong signal internationally of a joint commitment to open trade and investment and help give momentum to success at the G20 summit."

Despite the historic nature of this event, the Prime Minister and his entourage will be only be in China for little more than 48 hours. However the British Ambassador remains adamant that results can be achieved even in this small time frame.

"I think we'll see a large number of bilateral agreements in all sorts of different areas. Some big commercial deals, some agreements which help to underpin the growth of our business relationship in future. Some agreements on education, foreign policy, right the way through to our military relationship."

The visit to China marks David Cameron's first as British Prime Minister. If all goes to plan, delegations on both sides will be hoping this will lay the foundation for further cooperation between China and the new British government.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire