HURST is China Bound

October 2007

A delegation of business leaders from Greater Manchester including Helen Besant-Roberts, partner with Stockport accountants HURST, will return to the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Wuhan later this month. The purpose of the trip is to strengthen business links and promote the region as a world-class business location.

It follows a successful visit to China last year by the business delegation which brought a number of leads, companies and business deals to the region. 

The delegation is headed up by key sponsors Stockport accountants and business advisors HURST, Manchester lawyers Pannone, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and is supported by MIDAS, Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

From 28th October to 3rd November delegates will visit senior political and business figures in China and host a series of meetings, seminars and workshops. 

It will be the first visit to China for HURST which hopes to generate both business leads and market intelligence.  Helen Besant-Roberts, partner at HURST said: “We have run a number of international projects but this is the first time that the company has proactively ventured into China.

“China offers fantastic opportunities both in terms of inward clients and also for our existing Manchester based clients who are becoming increasingly interested in the Chinese market.  We are looking forward to learning more about the opportunities for our clients and working with the MIDAS team on communicating the benefits our city has to offer Chinese businesses.”

MIDAS has been working closely with a range of Chinese companies from various business sectors in both Shanghai and Wuhan. The investment agency expects that October’s visit will help further strengthen business links and attract more of China’s top businesses to the Manchester city region, such as Air China which set up its Manchester base in June 2006.

The delegation to China once again highlights the importance of the country as a key target for the Northwest. In addition to the delegation visit and the SinoVentures Centre, which offers support to Chinese companies seeking to enter the European market, the region also has a dedicated inward investment officer dedicated to Chinese investments. The NWDA’s Jing Chen, formerly a senior inward officer with UKTI in Shanghai, spends a lot of her time in China developing new investment projects for the region.