Stephen Perry, honorary chairman of the 48 Group, a London-based organization that has promoted equal and mutually beneficial trade between the UK and China since the 1950s, was also in attendance.

Recalling his early experience in Shanghai and the fast development of the city's Pudong New Area, which started in the 1990s, Perry said the transformation of Pudong has shown the effectiveness of China's long-term planning system, and he believed the development of the Lin-gang Special Area will create yet more opportunities, not only for the UK, but for the whole world.

Jack Perry, chairman of the 48 Group and CEO of the London Export Corporation, has just returned from visiting three provinces in China with a British business delegation, and will attend a robotics expo in Shanghai in November.

"When you talk about companies that are working now in Shanghai, you see high-quality development, new quality productive forces, and high level of opening-up," he said.

Mark Sisson, CEO of Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services Co, detailed plans for relocating operations to a newly-constructed high-standard maintenance facility in Lin-gang.