The UK chancellor will try to secure contracts for British companies in China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative during a conference in Beijing on Thursday — just hours after London authorised Chinese telecoms company Huawei to help build the country’s 5G data network.
Philip Hammond is attending the annual Belt and Road Forum hosted by Chinese president Xi Jinping, where various world leaders will discuss the mammoth project that is attempting to rebuild and expand the old Silk Road between Europe and China.
Mr Hammond will lobby for British companies seeking to provide either finance or engineering expertise for the initiative, the centrepiece of Beijing’s international economic policy. The Treasury said there were potential opportunities in the scheme, which encompasses about 70 countries, for companies in the fields of “design, engineering, financing, public-private partnerships, and legal services”.