British MP helps to bridge business gap

Richard Graham is using his experience in Asia to advise Gloucester constituents about engaging with China

Richard Graham believes the responsibility of a member of the British parliament goes beyond participating in national policy debates: He is using his extensive experience in China to help companies in his constituency engage directly with the country.

Graham first visited the Chinese mainland in 1980, when he started work at the Hong Kong office of British conglomerate Swire Group. He went on to be one of the first people to cross the Taklamakan desert in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in 1993.He helped with the first listing of a Chinese company on the London Stock Exchange, re-formed Shanghai Cricket Club, and launched the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

Six years ago, he decided to organize a seminar in his Gloucester constituency to show local businesses how to increase trade and investment with China, resulting in the area enjoying fast-growing links with the country.

Graham is now working with the China-Britain Business Council to encourage 50 MPs to host similar seminars in their constituencies before 2020.

"What I try to tell other MPs is that you don't have to wait for your local chamber of commerce to organize a China-related conference, you can lead yourself because you know your local businesses much better than anyone else," says Graham, who is also the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary China Group.

Gloucester makes about 20 percent of its revenue from manufacturing compared with a national figure of just over 10 percent. Graham says the products its companies sell to China include dentist drills, container port rail tracks, cylinders, giant valves, marine diesel engines and even scented tea.

"Richard is a great champion of business engagement with China. We're very lucky to have him as our local MP," says Maurice Critchley, chief executive of Seven Glocon, which makes infrastructure devices for the energy sector. "His optimism has supported our interest to grow in China, and he gave us greater awareness of the Chinese ways of doing business."

Seven Glocon, founded in 1959, supplies oil and gas firms in China and in other international markets like the Middle East and Africa where Chinese companies act as project contractors.

Critchley says Graham organizes regular meetings in his constituency for a few dozen businesses to get together and share their international trade experiences, sometimes focusing on the Chinese market.

About a year ago, he says, one of his colleagues joined a trade delegation to China arranged by Graham, during which they met with potential Seven Glocon customers, creating opportunities for new business relationships.

Frank Harsent, chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been leading local efforts to share expertise with Chinese doctors and nurses in Zhejiang province for the past five years.

The trust already had links with a Chinese counterpart before Graham's help, but Harsent says the MP has been supportive in maintaining that relationship.

"Last year, when we had nurses from Zhejiang visiting, he came to our hospital and met with them. They were very pleased. It helps that Richard has lived in China and understands the culture, so we can ask him for advice, as we wouldn't want to unknowingly offend our Chinese partners."

Stephen Phillips, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council, says of his group's work to help 50 MPs foster engagement opportunities with China: "MPs can unlock their local business communities, and the council can help them walk through the door to China trade and investment."

When Graham hosted the China seminar in Gloucester, one of the sponsors was Renishaw, an engineering company that has sold its products in China since the 1980s.

"We spoke at the event about our experiences of doing business in China to help other regional businesses. There were many people present and the focus was very much on practical assistance," says Chris Pockett, a spokesman for Renishaw.

He says Graham's support is helpful in engaging with the Chinese embassy in London. The good relationship with the embassy has allowed his team to host a delegation led by Chinese Minister Counselor Jin Xu, where his team presented Renishaw's history and future hopes to grow in China.

Pockett says MPs who have practical experience with China provide great value to their constituency businesses, "many of whom are daunted by the prospect of dealing with a market so far away and with very different customs, culture and language".

"MPs also have much greater access to the Chinese embassy and other London-based organizations with China market expertise," he adds.

cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily Africa Weekly 03/25/2016 page30)