City looks for Chinese role in Northern Powerhouse

For achieving a geographical and economic balance in the uk, China can play a role

When a high-level delegation traveled to China recently to explain the concept of a Northern Powerhouse, unlocking the collective potential of northern England's major cities, Greater Manchester played a prominent role.

The overarching objective of the Northern Powerhouse strategy is to rebalance our nation's economy by strengthening the North of England so that it is able to provide a complement and counterweight to London and the Southeast, helping our country to compete more effectively on the world stage.

We plan to narrow the gap between the north of England and London and the southeast. The opportunities are substantial. If the northern economy grows in line with the forecast for the average across the United Kingdom, rather than its historic average, its gross value added would be 56 billion pounds ($86 billion; 76 billion euros) higher.

We therefore believe passionately that this area - with the second largest economy in Britain and some world-leading strengths in research and advanced manufacturing, has a huge amount to offer Chinese potential investors.

Greater Manchester is a place that has innovation in its DNA. It was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and today has a large and diverse economy that is leading the way in cutting-edge developments, from advanced materials such as graphene, first isolated at the University of Manchester, to research in life sciences.

The area has Europe's second largest creative and digital cluster and has a strategy to become one of the world's top 20 digital cities by 2020.

Greater Manchester is also well-placed to access the 3.4-trillion-pound global low-carbon market with expertise in areas including energy efficiency (building technology), wind (on and offshore), renewable energy and the smart grid.

Manchester has been selected as one of 15 European cities to collaborate with China on smart-city development.

We are an area with a strong tradition of collaboration, made up of 10 local authorities that work together through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, sometimes referred to as a super council, the first of its kind in England.

We are centrally located in the UK, meaning that 60 per cent of all UK consumers live within a two-hour drive. We have invested heavily in our public transport infrastructure, and will have the largest tram network in the UK once the current 1.5-billion-pound expansion of our Metrolink network is completed next year.

More than 20 million passengers a year use Manchester Airport. We already have direct flights to Hong Kong and are looking to secure direct routes to the Chinese mainland.

Greater Manchester has identified increasing trade and investment with China as one of its strategic priorities, and in many ways China is a natural partner.

Our area boasts a long relationship with China, with trading relations dating back more than 150 years. Manchester's civic link with Wuhan, Hubei province, as a sister city dates back to 1986 and continues to strengthen, and there are other important civic and business links between China and the other Greater Manchester authorities which are held in very high regard.

Manchester's Chinatown is the second largest in the UK and the third largest in Europe and has a thriving and active Chinese business community. There has been a 45 percent increase in the number of Chinese students studying in Manchester over the past five years.

In recent years there has been significant investment in Greater Manchester from China, with 39 Chinese-owned companies now operating across the city area. These include the Bank of China, Beijing Construction Engineering Group, Huawei Technologies and the state-owned Chonqqing Machinery and Electric Co.

Beijing Construction Engineering Group last year announced a joint venture with Manchester Airports Group to develop the 800-million-pound Airport City in Manchester.

Long-established links between Greater Manchester and China have been built on by the creation of the Manchester-China Forum. This is a business-led initiative with the goal of increasing commercial connections with China, and strengthening business relationships.

I look forward to President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK and as mayor of Greater Manchester I extend the hand of friendship to Chinese businesses, students and visitors. I look forward to our relationship with China being a deep and fruitful one in the years ahead.

The author was named interim mayor of Greater Manchester this year. The views do not necessarily reflect those of Chin Daily.

(China Daily European Weekly 10/16/2015 page7)