On 2 October, the 2019 “Smart Europe” London Forum was hosted by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and the CCCUK. Extensive and in-depth dialogue and discussion were conducted at the event themed “upgrading Chinese consumption; a new opportunity for the UK”. Present at the event were CHEN Wen, Minister Counselor and Chief Staff Member of the Chinese Embassy in the UK; Rajesh Agrawal, deputy mayor of London; XU Bin, professor of economics and finance at CEIBS; and FANG Wenjian, President of Bank of China London Branch and Chairman of the CCCUK. They delivered a speech respectively, and were joined by over 300 guests from the Chinese and British political and business circles.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. At this new historical starting point alive with opportunities, such as the improved China’s consumption volume and quality, dividends brought by supply-side structural reform, open market, and “Belt and Road” construction, China and the UK face more possibilities for their cooperation, and entrepreneurs of the two countries have unprecedented opportunities for cooperation.

Photo 1. Professor Dipak Jain delivers a speech

Prof. Dipak Jain, Europe-appointed Dean of CEIBS, delivered the welcoming speech. He said the past 25 years since its founding have witnessed the school committed to deepen international cooperation, promote knowledge creation and dissemination, and build a communication platform for the global business community. In the future, the school will work hard to develop into a global brand, strengthen cooperation in Europe, the United States and Africa, and make greater contributions to the dissemination of leading knowledge of the industry and economic and cultural exchanges.

Photo 2: Minister Counselor CHEN Wen delivers a keynote speech

After him, Minister Counselor CHEN Wen delivered a keynote speech. She expounded three characteristics of China’s consumption upgrading. First, China’s rapid economic growth is driving consumption upgrading. Second, technological innovation gives rise to new consumption patterns. Third, pragmatic policies help increase the volume of consumption. Protectionism and unilateralism are on the rise, clouding the world economy with uncertainties. However, she said, China and the UK are confident in mutually beneficial cooperation. Such a confidence arises from the opportunities brought by China’s continued opening-up, the strong momentum of China-UK business cooperation, and the potential to build on each other’s strengths. She concluded her speech calling for efforts to ride the new trend of consumption upgrading in China, seize new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation, and deliver more fruitful results in the China-UK Golden Era.

Photo 3. Mr. Rajesh Agrawal delivers a keynote speech

In his keynote speech, Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, London’s deputy mayor for business, highlighted London’s advantages as an international city. He mentioned the city’s world-leading financial services system, its input to build the world-class data center, and its unparalleled advantages in capital, talent, cultural diversity and other aspects. After Brexit, the UK will continue to support free trade and assume a new role as “Global Britain”. London will also remain open and inclusive to more companies, capital and talent, laying a firmer foundation for urban development and prosperity.

Photo 4. Prof. XU Bin delivers a keynote speech

XU Bin, Vice Provost and Professor of Economics and Finance at CEIBS, examined the challenges and new opportunities facing China’s economy. The many challenges include economic slowdown, uneven personal income growth, mounting financial liability risks, and the increasingly complex international environment. However, the rapid growth of China’s economy has also brought new opportunities to other countries. Therefore, he suggested foreign institutions pay special attention to China’s support and investment in high-tech industries, growing demand for public services, and China’s policy of opening wider to the outside world.

Photo 5. Roundtable Discussion I (from left to right: ZHUANG Hongbin, CEO and co-founder of Emotech; WANG Yeming, general manager of EMEA business at Aliyun; Hannah Jackson, head of business development at The Body Shop in China; Edward Brewster, external communications director at Huawei’s London Office; and Martina Fuchs, financial journalist)

On the day of the event, several Chinese and British entrepreneurs joined the round-table discussion hosted by financial journalist Martina Fuchs, and John Richardson, a visiting scholar at Cass Business School, University of London.

The first roundtable discussion was centered around “A New Order of Consumption Upgrading: Chinese Market and Opportunities for the UK”. WANG Yeming, ZHUANG Hongbin, Hannah Jackson, and Edward Brewster engaged in an in-depth discussion on the topic, reaching the consensus that China’s consumption upgrading has created huge potential and rare opportunities for enterprises. Also, discussions were conducted on the trends in the consumer market, the application of fintech and big data, how SMEs can enter the Chinese market, and how to build business trust to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Photo 6: Roundtable discussion II (from left to right: Will Sorby, N26 UK General Manager; Vincenzo Mitolo, Chief Growth Officer of TrueLayer; Jeremy Abbott, Senior Business Development Manager and UK Country Head of UnionPay International; Suresh Vaghjiani, CEO and Cofounder of Tribe Pay; chief executive of Alipay UK, and LIU Yu, CEO of Alipay UK and Director of the Global Brand and Marketing)

The second roundtable discussion was themed “the driving force of technological innovation: integration of financial products into clothing, food, housing and transportation”. LIU Yu, Suresh Vaghjiani, Jeremy Abbott, Vincenzo Mitolo, and Will Sorby proceeded from their own business practice and shared their views on the impact of financial products and technological innovation on people’s daily life. They agreed that technological innovation can greatly improve the efficiency of resource allocation, enhance user experience, and create unprecedented opportunities for enterprises and social development.

Photo 7. Closing speech by Chairman FANG Wenjian

The event concluded with the closing speech by Chairman FANG. He said, great changes have taken place in China in recent decades, such as the shift from solving the problem of food and clothing to building a well-off society, and the current consumer market upgrading. China’s development has created for many enterprises rare opportunities. He suggested Chinese and British businesses ride the new round of consumption upgrading, enhance mutual trust and cohesion, deeply participate in the Chinese market, and further advance exchanges and cooperation. The CCCUK will continue to serve Chinese and British institutions as a communication platform, and help them seize new opportunities for development.

Photo 8. The event

The Forum concluded in a warm atmosphere, winning praises from the participants for sharing cutting-edge knowledge of the industry, promoting exchanges between Chinese and British companies, and creating good opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides.