Gordon Brown welcomes Chinese investment
British PM Gordon Brown has welcomed Chinese investment, saying he wanted Britain to be the top destination for money from the Asian giant.
By Agencies |
BEIJING: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday welcomed Chinese investment, saying he wanted Britain to be the top destination for money from the Asian giant.
Brown, on his maiden visit to China as leader of his country, made the remark after talks in Beijing with Premier Wen Jiabao.
"I want Britain to be the first location for Chinese investment, in Europe and in the rest of the world," Brown told reporters in a joint press conference with Wen.
Brown said he had invited China's new sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, or CIC, to set up an office in London.
The CIC, established in September last year, is charged with investing 200 billion dollars of China's 1.5-trillion-dollar foreign exchange reserve.
"I recognise in some countries it's controversial but having talked to Premier Wen... I think it's true that Britain will welcome the substantial investment from the Chinese in the years to come," Brown said.
Wen outlined what the CIC was doing, pointing out that only part of its 200 billion dollars would be invested abroad, as one third had been spent on reforming domestic banks.
"We will endeavour to enable the funds overseas to be transparent and open. That is to say, foreign people in other countries as well as domestic media will have much insight into them," Wen said.
Both Wen and Brown said they had set a target to raise two-way trade between China and Britain to 60 billion dollars by 2010, roughly 50 percent higher than the present level.
Brown, on his maiden visit to China as leader of his country, made the remark after talks in Beijing with Premier Wen Jiabao.
"I want Britain to be the first location for Chinese investment, in Europe and in the rest of the world," Brown told reporters in a joint press conference with Wen.
Brown said he had invited China's new sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, or CIC, to set up an office in London.
The CIC, established in September last year, is charged with investing 200 billion dollars of China's 1.5-trillion-dollar foreign exchange reserve.
"I recognise in some countries it's controversial but having talked to Premier Wen... I think it's true that Britain will welcome the substantial investment from the Chinese in the years to come," Brown said.
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Wen outlined what the CIC was doing, pointing out that only part of its 200 billion dollars would be invested abroad, as one third had been spent on reforming domestic banks.
"We will endeavour to enable the funds overseas to be transparent and open. That is to say, foreign people in other countries as well as domestic media will have much insight into them," Wen said.
Both Wen and Brown said they had set a target to raise two-way trade between China and Britain to 60 billion dollars by 2010, roughly 50 percent higher than the present level.
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