CUKBDC Chair Visits Hubei: Deepening Regional Collaboration for a New Chapter in UK–China Partnership

As cherry blossoms bloom across Wuhan, spring marks a new season of cooperation between the UK and China. During the 2026 "Meet in Spring, Admire Cherry Blossoms" Economic and Trade Fair, John McLean OBE, Chairman of the China–UK Business Development Centre (CUKBDC), visited Hubei, Wuhan. His itinerary covered high-level government dialogue, green finance, business matchmaking, vocational education, and aviation hub inspection—pragmatic, efficient and multi-layered, fully demonstrating CUKBDC’s core advantages in connecting regions, integrating resources and promoting project implementation. Let’s take a look at the fruitful results of this "spring date".

High-Level Meeting: Focus on Regional Coordination and Jointly Draw a Cooperation Roadmap

On the afternoon of March 30, Wang Zhonglin, Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial People’s Congress, met with guests and enterprise representatives participating in the 2026 "Meet in Spring, Admire Cherry Blossoms" Economic and Trade Fair in Wuhan. Chairman John McLean attended the meeting.

Chairman McLean pointed out that China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is highly complementary to the UK’s modern industrial strategy, and suggested deepening cooperation in practical fields such as tourism promotion, professional service empowerment, enterprise "going global" and green finance. "Momentum matters in the Year of the Horse"—both sides agreed to establish a closer local docking mechanism to make regional cooperation deeper and more practical.

Exclusive Media Interview: Interpret Local Vitality and Convey Confidence in Cooperation

During his visit to Hubei, Chairman McLean accepted an exclusive interview with Hubei Daily, interpreting Hubei’s development potential from a local perspective. He described Hubei as a "key economic hub of China" and a "Province of a Thousand Lakes", praised Hubei’s leapfrog development in new energy, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and other fields, and shared his personal experience of buying a Chinese-made electric vehicle, confirming the positive effects brought by the UK market’s opening to China.

"Two heads are better than one"—this British proverb is a portrayal of CUKBDC’s efforts to promote local cooperation: the UK has expertise in green finance, carbon capture and international experience, while Hubei has market scale and innovation vitality. Only through strong regional cooperation can win-win results be achieved.

Green Finance Conference: Professional Empowerment and Promotion of Regional Alignment of Green Standards

On the afternoon of March 31, a green finance themed exchange event was held at the East Lake International Conference Centre. Chairman McLean delivered a keynote speech, systematically introducing the UK’s green finance system (including the 2050 net-zero target, green financing framework, mandatory climate disclosure, green taxonomy, etc.), and highly appraised China’s large-scale deployment capacity in renewable energy, electric vehicles and clean technology manufacturing.

Chairman McLean took the UK’s issuance of £6.25 billion green gilts in 2026 (oversubscribed by over £80 billion) and China’s issuance of its first RMB green sovereign bond in London as examples to prove that UK-China green finance cooperation has borne tangible fruits. He also proposed three future cooperation directions: cross-border green bond flows, alignment of standards and disclosure frameworks, and promotion of carbon markets and nature finance through the combination of innovation and scale—these are the key professional areas that CUKBDC can focus on promoting at the local level.

Hubei-UK Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange: Build a Local Docking Platform to Help Enterprises "Link" to the World

On April 1, the "Embrace the Spring Date, Join Hands for New Development" China (Hubei) – UK Economic and Trade Cooperation Exchange was held at the Wuhan Branch of China Quality Certification Centre.

Chairman McLean said that Hubei has a solid industrial foundation, a vibrant innovation ecosystem and a superior location, making it an important regional fulcrum connecting China and the European market. The Centre will play a bridging role to promote more UK enterprises to achieve complementary advantages with Hubei in advanced manufacturing, green technology and other fields.

At the meeting, a number of Hubei "little giant" enterprises such as Cobot Technology, Wuhan Changguang Technology and Changjiang Electric showcased their innovative achievements in AI+robotics, optical communication, smart grid and other fields. Both sides conducted in-depth exchanges on practical topics such as EU/US market access, brand going global and international certification.

Huahu Airport Promotion Conference: Link Global Hubs and Expand New Channels for Regional Opening Up

On April 1, the Ezhou Huahu International Airport Special Promotion Conference and Hubei Comprehensive Bonded Zone High-Quality Development Seminar was held. Chairman McLean was invited to attend and pointed out that Huahu Airport has opened a new door for trade cooperation between China and the West, the Middle East, Africa and other regions—which is another practical focus for CUKBDC to help local areas open up international logistics and trade channels.

It is reported that Huahu Airport has a total investment of 32 billion yuan, has opened 115 cargo routes (54 international), and reaches 55 important global air hubs. As Asia’s largest and the world’s fourth-largest professional cargo hub, this airport is becoming a new regional engine for Hubei to connect with the world, and also provides unlimited possibilities for CUKBDC to promote UK enterprises to use this hub to layout the Chinese market.

Visit to Changjiang Polytechnic: Integration of Industry and Education to Expand New Dimensions of Local People-to-People Cooperation

Chairman McLean and his delegation visited Changjiang Polytechnic, extending the tentacles of cooperation to the fields of vocational education and people-to-people exchanges. He visited the Low-Altitude Economy Application Innovation Centre, Digital Full-Scenario Supply Chain Training Centre, Rural Revitalization Agriculture Assistance Live Broadcast Room and Digital Human Live Broadcast Room, and personally experienced the drone "aerial water delivery" welcome ceremony and Song Dynasty tea-making, an intangible cultural heritage project.

"It has both the cultural heritage of Jingchu intangible cultural heritage and the cutting-edge technology of drones and digital humans," Chairman McLean said. As the last stop of this trip。