Leicester and Leicestershire have been strengthening their trade links with the province of Sichuan in southwestern China.
As tensions over tariffs continue between China and the US, and the the county council hosted a delegation of officials from the province, which is home to around 90 million people.
The region, about the size of Spain, has been twinned with Leicestershire since 1988, and the visit built on an agreement to boost trade and investment, as well as educational links and tourism between the two areas, which was signed last year.
County Hall said partnerships between the 海角视频 and China were worth 鈥渂illions to the economy鈥.
It has been reported that imports and exports between Sichuan and the 海角视频 are rising and 18 months ago had a combined value of around 拢735 million.
Leicestershire firms with strong links to China include Norton Motorbikes in Castle Donington, and Next Plc, based in Enderby.
Sichuan had a GDP of around $600 billion in 2018, while Leicester and Leicestershire鈥檚 is worth around 拢24 billion a year.
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The delegation 鈥 headed by Mr. Deng Xiaogang, vice party secretary of the communist party of Sichuan Provincial Committee 鈥 took in a visit to the King Richard III Centre and Leicester Cathedral and a tour of the King Power Stadium before attending a dinner with Leicestershire business leaders.
Senior Conservative county councillor Trevor Pendleton said: 鈥淭hese are truly exciting times for Leicester and Leicestershire and its potential future relationship with one of the most significant and largest provinces in China, Sichuan.
鈥淭his visit not only recognises and celebrates our continued longstanding friendship with Sichuan, but also demonstrates our commitment to strengthen and further develop our collaborative links and economic cooperation between our two regions.
鈥淭hrough improving our connectivity, growing inward investment and strengthening international trade links I鈥檓 confident we can build on our solid foundations and create even stronger links as China and Sichuan continues to expand.鈥
