China has been our fastest growing market for the past seven years.
In 2006, total two-way trade in goods totalled US$30.7 billion, a 25.2% increase over 2005.
As the largest EU investor in China, the UK had over 5,359 projects in China by the end of 2006 with a realised value of US$13.9 billion.
Our export of services rose 54% over the two years of 2004 and 2005. In return, Chinese investment in the UK is increasing rapidly.
Over 300 mainland Chinese companies have now invested there. More and more Chinese companies are also listing on the London Stock Exchange: the numbers on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) rose from 21 to 51 in 2006.