UK's George Osborne Welcomes Joint UK-China Airport City Project

UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne welcomes the joint business venture between UK-China.

BEIJING, CHINA (OCTOBER 13, 2014) (REUTERS) - UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, welcomed the joint UK-Chinese venture for the construction of a business district at Manchester Airporton Sunday (October 13).

The deal, whose announcement on Sunday coincided with Osborne's China visit, will result in the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) teaming up with construction group Carillion, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and the airport to build the 800 million pound ($1.3 billion) Airport City scheme.

Osborne praised the significance of the announcement shortly after his arrival inBeijing.

"Manchester Airport City and its investment is a great example of the benefits of a stronger UK and China relationship, and a great way for me to begin my trip," he told media.

"It's impressive because it's an 800-million pound ($1.3 billion) joint venture between the Beijing Construction and Engineering Group and Carillion. And I think, by the way, that this is the first investment by Beijing Construction in the UK, and it is incredibly welcome," he added.

Manchester Airport has been hunting partners to help build the new 5 million square foot (500,000 sq m) business centre, intended to boost the airport's role as a business travel hub.

Beijing Construction Engineering Group, which worked on the 2008 BeijingOlympics' press centre and gymnasium venue, is being backed by China's biggest bank by assets, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a source familiar with the talks said.

Osborne also mentioned the possibility of a direct air link between Manchester andBeijing.

"And I hope that as well as the economic ties between our two great countries, the physical ties can grow, and I would dearly like to see a direct air link betweenManchester and Beijing, from Manchester Airport, and that's something we can work on in the weeks and months ahead," he told media.

The deal comes as Britain tries to woo Chinese investment as part of a plan to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2015.

A Chinese billionaire announced plans last week to spend 500 million pounds to rebuild London's Crystal Palace while a Chinese developer signed a deal in May to turn a derelict plot of land near London's City Airport into the city's third financial district.