China, UK vow to boost economic ties

China will further open up and continue to relax market access in financial and service industries, Premier Li Keqiang said during his talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Oct 19, calling on the UK to seize the opportunities and expand cooperation with China in economy, trade, finance, manufacturing and third-party markets.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Brussels, Premier Li told May that the two sides reached consensus on promoting the Shanghai-London Stock Connect during the new round of the Annual China-UK Prime Ministers’ Meeting at the beginning of this year, making Britain the first country to conduct securities exchanges with China.

The Shanghai-London Stock Connect was jointly advanced by the governments of China and the UK in 2015.

May responded that Britain sees China as an important part of its global partnership and expects Premier Li to visit Britain for a new round of prime ministers’ meetings.

Britain welcomes China’s further opening-up and is willing to promote sustained and sound development of bilateral economic and trade relations through mechanisms like the China-Britain Economic and Financial Dialogue, she stressed.