A delegation from China's southern province of Guangdong on Wednesday wrapped up a four-day visit to Britain, where they expressed a strong interest in furthering economic and trade cooperation with the country.
The delegation was led by Hu Chunhua, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee.
Guangdong has been known for its various pilot projects and the vitality of its economy as China gradually opened up and carried out reforms over the past decades. It had a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 1.16 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016, accounting for 10.69 percent of China's total GDP and over 28 percent of China's international trade.
The delegation attended the China (Guangdong) - UK Economic and Trade Conference and signed 26 cooperation projects on Wednesday morning with a contract value of about 1.831 billion dollars.
In a speech at the conference, Hu said that all parties built a broad consensus on common development at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held last month in Beijing.
He said the economic and trade exchanges between Guangdong and Britain have a long history, and that he hoped the two sides will work together to expand the exchanges, deepen the friendly and cooperative relations while promoting the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Both sides should also increase two-way investment and strengthen pragmatic cooperation in scientific and technological innovation, finance, education and other fields, he said.
During the visit, Hu met with British Princess Anne, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and heads of the local governments of London, Birmingham and Scotland.
Britain is the last leg of the Guangdong delegation's three-nation tour, which has taken it to Israel and Ireland.
