China and Britain should continue to carry forward the "ice-breaking spirit" and tighten their bonds of cooperation, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the closing ceremony of the 2026 UK-China Business Council meeting in Beijing on Thursday.
This is not only a rational choice for the two countries to deal with risks and promote development together, but also their due responsibility as responsible major countries to work together on solving global problems, Li said.
Li said that China and Britain are important economic and trade partners sharing extensive common interests. As long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, move in same direction, eliminate interference, and stick to openness and cooperation, the two countries can achieve win-win results and create prosperity through mutual success.
Li pointed out that last year, despite mounting economic pressure, China has pushed forward with innovation-led and high-quality development, demonstrating extraordinary resilience and vitality of its economy.
Noting that China starts implementing the 15th Five-Year Plan this year, Li said Chinese economic aggregate will reach a new level in the next five years, with the structure continuously optimized and new growth drivers expanding, which will provide huge space for China-Britain cooperation.
Noting that the enterprises of the two countries have great potential, he said that they can focus their efforts on four areas.
The first is the expansion of the "new increment" of bilateral trade, and developing services trade into a new cooperation growth point, in particular.
Second, the two sides can create a "new engine" for innovative development, taking the lead in and empowering each other in such fields as artificial intelligence, clean energy, biomedicine and high-end manufacturing, Li said.
Third, they can explore "new blue oceans" of tripartite cooperation, carry out more cooperation in the global market -- with a particular focus on the Southern countries -- and achieve win-win and multiple-win situations, the premier said.
The fourth is the creation of "new vitality" in people-to-people exchange, alongside the development of more brand projects that are popular among people in both countries, a boost for people-to-people interaction, and the achievement of a double harvest of economic value and people-to-people connectivity, Li said.
Visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during the closing ceremony that the purpose of his visit to China is to gain a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of China, and discover and seize more opportunities for cooperation, so as to better benefit the British people and support the growth and prosperity of the country.
It is hoped that entrepreneurs and organizations of the two countries can seize the opportunity and carry out closer dialogue and cooperation, he added. ■
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