The embassy's Economic & Trade Policy section is responsible for reporting, and engaging with the Chinese authorities, on the following issues:

• Economic, trade and structural reform policies.
• Financial sector policy and regulation.
• Inward and outward investment policies, and sovereign wealth funds.
• Relations with the IMF, World Bank, WTO and OECD.
• Economic and trade aspects of China's relations with the EU, US and Japan.
• The business environment and cross-sector market access issues including IPR, competition policy and taxation.
• The economics of climate change.

The section is responsible for coordinating the annual meetings of the UK-China Economic & Financial Dialogue, and contributes to preparations for meetings of the UK-China Joint Economic & Trade Committee. It also programmes bilateral cooperation projects on economic governance supported by the Strategic Programme Fund. The section works closely with colleagues in the embassy's political, commercial, environment, and science & innovation sections, as well as staff in the UK's consulate-generals elsewhere in China.

Useful links

• Strategic Programme Fund projects to support economic and financial sector collaboration between the UK and China
• HM Treasury, the UK's economics & finance ministry
• Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the UK's ministry for business and trade policy issues
• UK Trade and Investment
• UK Intellectual Property Office
• Bank of England, the UK's central bank
• Financial Services Authority, the UK's financial services regulator

 

The global financial crisis

The UK has taken a leading role in shaping the international response to the global financial crisis, and in ensuring that China and other leading emerging market economies are fully involved in the international discussions.

China-UK economic and financial dialogue

China's Premier Wen Jiabao and the UK's Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed at the China-UK Summit in January 2008 to establish a new high-level dialogue between the two countries on strategic economic issues.

UK-China collaboration in financial services

There has been an intensified programme of visits to Beijing by officials to discuss regulatory issues with their Chinese counterparts