Key projects highlight city's international intent

Council officials travel far and wide to sign collaborative agreements that will bring global prestige and jobs

Officials in Manchester highlight two recent collaboration projects, in particular, as perfect illustrations of the growing importance of international links.

The northwestern English city and the central Chinese city of Wuhan officially became sister cities in 1986, under which both cities have carried out exchanges and cooperation in many fields such as the economy, culture, science and technology, and education.

But recently Manchester City Council has been chasing a widening list of potential links, and those have included building stronger ties with China's other major cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

In an interview with China Daily, Sir Howard Bernstein, the council's CEO, says China and Manchester complement one another, in terms of sector strength.

That relationship was underlined strongly last October, when officials revealed plans for the Airport City Manchester project, an 800 million ($1.3 billion) business park next to Manchester Airport, which authorities hope will become a globally connected business hub.

Chinese engineering company Beijing Construction Engineering Group International will be responsible for building half the facility, alongside Carillion, the listed UK support services and construction company, which employs 40,000 staff worldwide.

"BCEG's investment is a very important thing for the city. It has already added a lot to the vitality and vision around the development of the Airport City," says Bernstein.

"We have moved away from the talking to the achieving. We are confident that the collaboration will be hugely successful."

The deal to build the park, which is expected to create up to 16,000 jobs, was announced by British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne during a visit to Beijing last October.

His trip to the Chinese capital also marked the launch in China of the Manchester-China Forum, which aims to boost trade links between the two locations.

Charlie Cornish, chief executive of the forum, told the Manchester Evening News that it's hoped securing Chinese investment into the region will go a long way toward encouraging airlines to launch more direct services between Manchester and China, and elsewhere in the Far East.

"The inclusion of BCEG is significant because as a group, we have been keen to forge greater links with the Far East and this gives us an opportunity to strengthen vital business links with China," said Cornish.

"With GMPF on board, Greater Manchester is investing in the future of the northwest and Carillion brings sector-leading experience in project finance, delivery and sustainability, both in the UK and internationally.

Xing Yan, the director of BCEG, told the Evening News that he considered being included in the development "a real honor".

"To be part of a project of this size and scale, working alongside other such highly regarded organizations, will be an exciting, challenging and rewarding opportunity, which we look forward to beginning.

"We see our involvement in Airport City as an extension of the memorandum of understanding between China and the UK, where we have been looking to further explore joint infrastructure opportunities for some time."

Manchester's officials are billing the landmark project as one of the most significant regeneration schemes in the UK since the 2012 Olympics redevelopment in East London.

A month earlier, officials also announced a high-level collaboration with New York-based Bluestone Global Tech, one of the world's largest graphene manufacturers, which agreed to a 5 million pound collaborative research partnership to open its European base at the University of Manchester.

Bernstein says Bluestone's investment will be in the university's 61 million National Graphene Institute, which focuses on research and development for new high-tech technology products that make use of graphene, an astonishingly strong substance composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, extracted from graphite, which is claimed to be tougher than diamond, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber.

He adds the project could attract a significant number of jobs to the city, and the partnership will allow the university's top academics to work closely on research projects with Bluestone, which currently has laboratories in New York and Taiwan.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of the council, says he has also been a regular traveler to China in search of opportunities for the region, making his first trip there in 1986.

He says one topic of conversation often discussed when he meets local government counterparts from Beijing and Shanghai is how to grow Manchester as a post-industrial city.

"It seems Shanghai's heavy industry is moving inland and they're developing a post-industrial economy in the way Manchester has become," Leese says.

He says the key to developing a post-industrial economy is by changing the way industries are structured by adding in more financial and other services as key sectors of strength.

"You have to find a new purpose. As one industry goes, you have to grow another.

"Places like Shanghai and Beijing can grow their strength as access points for foreign investment into the whole of China," Leese says.

(China Daily European Weekly 09/26/2014 page16)