(Ambassador Liu Talking with British Entrepreneurs)

On July 2nd, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming attended a business lunch hosted by KPMG. Present at the lunch were KPMG London Chairman Richard Reid, AstraZeneca Chief Executive David Brennan, British Sugar Chief Executive Mark Carr, Bupa Chief Executive Ray King, Diageo Global Business Support Director Jim Grover, Morgan Crucible Chief Executive Mark Robertshaw, Whitbread Chairman Anthony Habgood, 3i North America & 3i Asia Chairman Robert Stefanowski, Sainsbury's Supermarket Group Director Diane Carter and KPMG partners.

Chairman Reid thanked the Ambassador for his presence at the lunch and said that China's rapid development and great potential in its market provide important opportunities for British businesses. KPMG's clients put great weight on the Chinese market and hope to further enhance their cooperation with China. KPMG will stay committed to encouraging investment by British businesses in China and hopes more Chinese investors will enter the UK martket.

(Ambassador Liu Delivering Speech)

Ambassador Liu delivered a speech at the lunch. He briefed the participants on the latest development of China's economy and the prospect for investment in China, saying that China was among the first leading economies to recover from the international financial crisis thanks to its decisive measures. This recovery is continuing into 2010 and brings about a faster economic growth. In particular, the higher quality of growth and the stronger market confidence provide great investment opportunities for businesses from other countries including the UK.

The Ambassador pointed out that the worries of some people about the recent adjustment of China's foreign investment policies are unnecessary. China benefited from opening-up in its development and will further open to the rest of the world. In China's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package a lot was devoted to further opening-up, absorbing foreign capital and stepping up international cooperation, and there is a great prospect for cooperation with China in such areas as the green economy, new materials, new energies and bio-pharmaceuticals. With the accelerated industrialisation and urbanization, China's huge internal consumption market also offers great business opportunities. The Chinese government is making active efforts in creating a sound environment to facilitate investment. Statistics and surveys show that foreign businesses remain confident in the Chinese market and China is still a leading destination for foreign investment.

Ambassador Liu also stressed that the Chinese government has always attached great importance to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection and has made great efforts in ensuring better IPR protection through legislation, law enforcement, training and publicity campaigns. As a developing country whose IPR system has been in place for less than 30 years, China does not want to evade problems. But the Chinese government will work harder and engage in more international exchanges and dialogue in the area to improve and strengthen IPR protection.

The Ambassador also answered questions on IPR protection, RMB exchange rate, prospect for economic development in China, investment in China, cooperation in high and new technologies and agriculture and China's health care reform and opening-up of its health care sector.