Shanghai plan may bring in investment

Nov 23 2007 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

A GROUP of Shanghai entrepreneurs is to be brought together and given a presentation on opportunities to invest in Liverpool.

The idea for the presentation, which could take place either in Liverpool or in Shanghai, was proposed yesterday during a meeting between senior Government officials from the Chinese province and Liverpool city council executives.

The chief executives of Liverpool City Council and BusinessLiverpool, Colin Hilton and Mike Taylor, yesterday met with the delegation from the Shanghai Peoples Congress.

They were on a two-day trip to the city, co-ordinated by the Liverpool-Shanghai Partnership (LSP) as part of the twinning arrangement between the two cities.

The visit will also comprise a series of meetings around Liverpool and includes tours of Liverpool city centre and Liverpool Football Club.

LSP chief executive Mike Mielniczek told the Daily Post the idea for the presentation to a group of entrepreneurs was an exciting one that could lead to real investment opportunities. He said: “The presentation would allow the entrepreneurs to learn in much more detail what Liverpool has to offer in terms of investment opportunities. It is forging close links like these that has allowed cities like Hamburg and St Petersburg to benefit from inward investment.

“To put the ‘special relationship’ in context, Shanghai has invested £12bn in St Petersburg, in Russia, which it shares a similar twinning relationship with.

“Liverpool is hugely privileged to have this twinning relationship which gives us a substantial advantage over other British cities trading with China.

“Twinning is taken very seriously in Shanghai, which is a dynamic, sophisticated, commercial centre. The delegation is especially interested in examining Liverpool’s biosciences sector, property and land development opportunities and our professional expertise connected to our universities.”

This week’s visit follows a trip to Shanghai in July by a delegation from Liverpool, during which businessmen and city leaders saw LSP open its full-time office there.

During the visit, Liverpool City Council leader Warren Bradley was given rare access to Xi Jinping, the party secretary of Shanghai.

Mr Xi was last month tipped as favourite to take over leadership of the party in 2012, after being appointed to the Communist politburo standing committee, the most powerful body in China.

tonymcdonough