China, Britain vow to boost economic, financial cooperation

China and Britain have a broad prospect for financial cooperation and the two countries should give full play to their respective advantages to deepen the cooperation, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai said here on Friday.
Ma made the remarks when co-chairing the Sixth China-Britain Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) with British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.
In keeping with the theme of promoting common growth and inclusive development, the two sides held in-depth exchange of views on macro-economy, finance, trade, infrastructure, urbanization and international economic cooperation, achieving positive results.
The two countries' leaders had exchanged successful visits since the beginning of last year and mapped out a blueprint for the development of China-Britain relations, Ma said, adding that the EFD's primary task is to boost the implementation of the consensus reached by the leaders and lift economic and financial cooperation to a new level.
He noted that as the global economic situation is still complicated, China and Britain should strengthen situation research and judgment, and policy coordination.
China is willing to enhance cooperation with Britain within the framework of such platforms as the G20 and the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said.
Ma also voiced hope that the reform commitments of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be implemented and the multilateral trade system be protected, so as to better promote the economic growth in the two countries and the whole world.
He expected the two sides to deepen trade and investment cooperation and reinforce cooperation in such fields as nuclear energy, high-speed rail, wind power generation, photovoltaic power generation and urbanization.
For his part, Osborne said the British government attaches great importance to economic ties with China.
The two countries have continuously strengthened economic relations in recent years, with Britain becoming China's second largest trade partner in the European Union (EU) and nearly doubling its investment in China, he said, adding that London has also become the largest the Chinese yuan offshore center outside Asia.
Osborne said that facing the complicated global geopolitical situation and the weak recovery in the euro zone, Britain and China need to further promote their economic and financial relations.
Britain is looking forward to building a strong, sustainable economic relationship with China, sharing their experiences, and jointly tackling challenges they are facing in the 21st century, he said.
Before the dialogue, Ma and Osborne also attended the opening ceremony of an investment forum between China and Britain.