Chamber makes China connection
West Lothian Chamber of Commerce has participated in one of the first networkwide overseas trade missions to China, led by a delegation of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.
Chief executive, Linda Scott joined senior representatives and business people from Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The mission explored new trading opportunities and links with business, education and government organisations.
As part of the programme, Scottish Chambers of Commerce ( SCC) announced the official opening of a new International Trade Office in the city of Yantai.
The formal opening ceremony was hosted by the Mayor of Yantai city, Ms Zhang Yongxia, together with senior officials from Yantai Municipal Government.
As part of the event, both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding for trade engagement and partnership, designed to achieve an effective channel for exchange of business between Scotland and Yantai.
During the trade visit, West Lothian Chamber participated in a series of productive meetings with senior business people, highly-influential politicians and local government officials as well as national ‘think tanks’ bodies in Beijing and Yantai and Jinan in the Shandong Province.
Chief executive, Linda Scott commented: “The Chinese economy continues to grow at a faster pace than western economies and the rate of growth within new cities such as Yantai and Jinan opens up the potential for West Lothian businesses to promote and sell its goods and services which Chinese businesses and consumers want and need.
“That demand, together with a more recent policy of ‘opening up’ to new trading partners and overseas alliances by the Chinese, presents a myriad of opportunities for our local businesses to capitalise on.
“The aim of our mission was to strengthen relationships and increase engagement with existing and new contacts in sectors where there are direct B2B or knowledge-sharing opportunities for Scottish companies.”
Linda also visited the city of Jinan, which is home to one of the first national high- tech business incubators and since its foundation in 2002, it has incubated more than 1,000 small and medium sized science and technology enterprises.
Key sectors for West Lothian based companies to meet key economic needs in the Chinese target cities include: electronic information, robotics and artificial intelligence, pharmaceutical, bioscience and manufacturing, engineering and smart technologies, energy including upstream and downstream products and services, logistics, agriculture, food and drink and even football management.
The accelerated growth of consumers in Shandong province also opens opportunities in consumer goods, recreation and tourism services, financial and professional services and education.
Chief executive, SCC, Liz Cameron said: “We now have a deeper understanding of how we can achieve the best exchange for business, where the opportunities exist for Scottish organisations and how we can best pursue these.
“We have also identified a number of potential opportunities for inward investment into Scotland and will be working with Scottish Government and SDI as well as other trade organisations to explore these and leverage the momentum of change within China.”
Chief executive, Linda Scott added: “We will now undertake a deep dive of companies based in West Lothian who have products, skills and expertise which have the potential to be exported to Shandong Province.
“The new more open trading environment in fast growing cities such as Yantai, Jinan and the wider Shandong Province, together with the practical advice and direct B2B links that West Lothian Chamber now has within this market, will facilitate more effective trading partnership opportunities for our local businesses and educational institutions.”
SCC intends to return to Shandong Province later this year to conclude discussions on further Memorandums of Understanding.