British chancellor boosts for exports to China in budget speech

LONDON -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced in Parliament Wednesday a major boost for Britain companies exporting goods to China.

In his pre-election budget speech in the House of Commons Osborne said he had sanctioned an increase in resources to the official export agency, UKTI, with the aim of doubling support for British exporters to China.

His announcement came just weeks after a high level trade mission to China led by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge.

Britain's coalition government has set a target of doubling UK world exports to 1 trillion pounds.

More than 3,000 medium-sized businesses are already exporting goods overseas with UKTI support.

Osborne said Britain's manufacturing output has grown more than four-and-a-half times faster than it did in the entire decade before the financial crisis, describing it as a "national recovery".

"The British economy is fundamentally stronger than it was five years ago, and that is reflected in the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)."

"And we will do even more -- so today I am again increasing UKTI's resources to double the support for British exporters to China."

"We have also decided to become the first major western nation to be a prospective founding member of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, because we think you should be present at the creation of these new international institutions."

The Chancellor's announcement was welcomed by CBBC, the trade delivery partner in China for UKTI.

Between them, CBBC and UKTI help businesses build a contacts network, carry out research, attend trade fairs and missions, and promote goods and services in the Chinese market.

Emma Jones, founder of small business network Enterprise Nation said: "Investing in global trade is great news and particularly China -- today even home-based businesses can trade internationally via powerful platforms but all of this can be dramatically supercharged with helpful Government intervention."