Business community welcomes Chinese Consul General
Chinese Consul General, Zheng Xijuan, visits Leeds to meet with representatives from the civic, business, education and cultural sectors.
20 March 2020
In January 2019 the Chinese Consul General, Zheng Xijuan, visited Leeds to meet with representatives from the civic, business, education and cultural sectors.
He was welcomed to the Civic Hall by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Graham Latty who introduced him to the many opportunities which Leeds has to offer to partners in China.
The Consul General then attended a dinner with the Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake, and Chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Roger Marsh OBE, who led a Leeds City Region trade and investment mission to China last September. They discussed the great friendship between Leeds and Hangzhou, and shared information on the sector strengths of the wider city region economy.
The Consul General, Zheng Xijuan, was accompanied by representatives from the commercial section of the Chinese Embassy in Manchester as well from the Bank of China. Present to welcome the Consul General’s delegation were representatives from local businesses including tech company Dahua which recently opened an office in Leeds, TPP, Munroe K and Grant Thornton International, all of which are active in the Chinese market.
The Consul General paid tribute to the city council and its local partners for maintaining its strategic partnership with the city of Hangzhou, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. He also congratulated the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett university for building such strong partnerships with universities across China and for providing a welcoming and safe environment for many students from China.
Representatives from the cultural sector including Phoenix Dance Theatre, East Street Arts and the Leeds2023 Trust were also present to talk about the cultural ambitions of the city, particularly in the lead up to the city’s international cultural festival in 2023.
Consul General, Zheng Xijuan is responsible for Northern Powerhouse-China relations and it is hoped that the Consul General will be a regular visitor to the region in the future.