It was 8:40 in the morning, and Jeff Astle, Executive Director China of China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), hurried into the conference hall on time, with the wheels of his suitcase behind turning furiously.

Before his acceptance of this exclusive interview with Newsgd.com, Astle double-checked his schedule and reaffirmed that he could only leave 30 minutes to us. “Let’s start now!” after sitting in front of the camera he said determinedly.

As a matter of fact, Astle was the right person to talk about China-UK cooperation in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As the head of CBBC in China, he has witnessed how China-UK cooperation has developed prosperously since China-Britain bilateral relations entered a “Golden Era” in 2015.

To explore how enterprises of two countries could seize this opportunity and cooperate with each other, CBBC developed a report with China’s Minister of Commerce this year, focusing on BRI. Astle indicated that UK was “looking for Chinese investment to match British investment in a third country or a new joint venture in innovation sectors or new sectors where we can match up competences on an equal footing”.

While mentioning Guangdong, Astle became pretty sentimental as he was accredited in Guangdong for several years before and admitted Guangdong was quite “unusual” for him. He thought “Guangdong business partners have been extremely international minded already with a lot of international experiences”, and it has been be a new opportunity for Britain to come to Guangdong to find ways to work in partnership along Belt and Road countries.

New model of Sino-UK cooperation under B&R framework

In terms of how British enterprises could join in the B&R opportunities, Astle considered British enterprises have two major strengths—one is expertise while the other is the international resources that Britain has.

Astle said there have been many good examples of China-UK cooperation, and Huawei’s R&D center in UK is one of them. “It’s a win-win. British experts are feeding in the supply chain, academia working, and innovative working while Huawei is developing new opportunities for both sides.”

“The cooperation model between China and Britain is changing dramatically in recent years,” said Jeff Astle, “in the past, it was simply transactions or agreements between two parties for products or services.”

“But now with the BRI, it’s more about matching Chinese and British investment in a third country or in a new sectors on an equal footing,” he added, “It’s more complicated and maybe takes more time to develop, but it will be more valuable for both sides.”

Astle explained furthermore that Britain has world leading skills in civil engineering, architecture, master planning, designing and so on, which all could be involved in China’s BRI projects.

Moreover, he pointed out that UK has a long history in launching business in B&R countries, and “we understand the local technical standards, legal environment”.

“We are helping those Chinese business going into countries that they may not so familiar with.” Astle summed up.

[Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

Opportunities seen in Guangdong’s integration projects

As for Guangdong, Astle said the province is taking a pioneering role along B&R, and thought highly about his “extremely more entrepreneurial” Guangdong business partners. “The Chinese investors in Guangdong are looking for much more rapid and innovative solutions and opportunities (in BRI).”

In fact, Guangdong has been always active and leading in the BRI. Guangdong is the 1st province in China to forward the BRI implementation plan, with 1599 cooperation projects worth $88.61 billion signed with the B&R countries from 2013 to 2016.

UK has noticed it. When mentioning Guangdong, CBBC’s report specifically introduces Guangdong’s port cluster, international airport expansion and free trade zones, showing how the province is tightening its connections with the world.

“Guangdong is strengthening its links across the PRD as well as with Hong Kong and Macao through the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area,” Astle added, “and with the overland freight trains, Guangdong is even linking to Europe, and to the UK.”

Astle said that he could really see Guangdong government and its business vision in these projects as well as the province’s ambition of creating an international environment for foreign businesses coming into Guangdong, and also benefiting from this internationally connected and integrated region.

Apart from the infrastructure sector, Astle also saw opportunities in Guangdong’s innovative sector. He thought Guangdong has brought its creative industries to the forefront and it’s moving up the value chain to be increasingly about the innovation.

Astle believed that the two sides could join hands and work in partnership in Belt and Road countries. “There are a lot of projects already going on.” he added.

(By Nan, Jasmine)

英中贸易协会中国区总裁：愿助粤企在“一带一路”上更接地气

早上八点四十，身着考究西装的鼎杰夫（Jeff Astle）拉着行李箱风风火火地走进会议室，准备接受采访。事先他再三确认只能留半个小时的时间，随后他还有其他行程。

随着中英关系步入“黄金时代”，在“一带一路”框架下合作日益密切，作为加强促进两国企业联系的英中贸易协会，也承担着更大的责任，而鼎杰夫作为中国区总裁，也习惯这样密集的日程安排了。

今年5月在北京举办“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛期间，英中贸易协会与商务部国际贸易经济合作研究院共同出版“一带一路”报告，重点关注中英两国间增强合作的领域，“我们正在探索，英国能提供些什么，来积极参与‘一带一路’在中国和第三国的建设，”鼎杰夫在接受南方英文网（Newsgd.com）的独家专访时如是说。

而说起广东，鼎杰夫很有感触。他曾在广东常驻数年，因此也很坦率地表示，广东是个“不寻常”的地方。在他看来，广东人非常有国际视野，也有着丰富的国际经验，“他们非常清楚自己在‘一带一路’建设中的位置和期望寻求的机会……我们也正在努力加快步伐配合他们，希望能用我们当地的资源，帮助他们在‘一带一路’上更接地气”。

中英企业“联姻”，“一带一路”更本土化

一说起“一带一路”倡议，鼎杰夫就开始变得很兴奋。自2013年起，英国积极融入“一带一路”建设。在鼎杰夫看来，英国参与“一带一路”建设的程度在逐步深入，如何利用英国丰富的海外项目运作经验，帮助中国在“一带一路”国家投资项目时更本土化更接地气，这才是现在中英合作的大趋势。

鼎杰夫表示，“一带一路”建设最基本的是基础设施建设，中国企业在建设公路、铁路、机场和发电设施等现代化基础设施网络中积累了丰富经验。英国在土木工程建设、建筑设计、项目管理等领域有着世界顶级水平的技术和能力，这些都可以成为中国顺利完成“一带一路”沿线国家项目的强大推动力。

鼎杰夫坦诚道，中国在“一带一路”沿线国家，尤其是在斯里兰卡、孟加拉国、巴基斯坦甚至东非地区，已经投资了很多切实可行的项目。两国企业可以联合在第三方市场开展基础设施、能源、物流等领域的项目，中国公司利用英国人才、制造业和技术平台为第三国市场项目提供服务，英国公司提供专业建议和服务，帮助中国公司在不熟悉且风险较高的商业环境中运营。

“我们（英国）和这些国家打交道多年，对很多国家都非常熟悉，我们可以提供当地承建商、律所、会计所、银行等方面的服务。”

广东在努力成为“一带一路”建设“领头羊”

一说到海丝，就不可避免提到广东。广东是全国首个公布参与建设“一带一路”实施方案的省份，力图将广东打造成为“一带一路”的战略枢纽、经贸合作中心和重要引擎。

鼎杰夫此前曾在广东常驻两年，见证了广东近年来大力整合铁路和港口交通，建设互联互通的粤港澳大湾区，在广州南沙、深圳前海和珠海横琴设自由贸易区，打造国际化法制化市场化营商环境来吸引外资，积极对接“一带一路”建设。“我感觉广东在努力成为‘领头羊’，这对英国来说也是一个新的机遇，我们已经与很多广东企业就‘一带一路’开展合作，帮助他们在第三方国家进行投资。”

在鼎杰夫看来，广东人具有创造性和企业家精神，也有着丰富的国际经验，善于利用自身优势，在“一带一路”中探寻合适机遇。“广东有很强的先进制造业，在‘一带一路’上开展了很多电信、生物科学等领域的项目。”鼎杰夫表示，英国与广东有太多相似的地方，他很希望继续与广东加强合作，实现“双赢”的局面。