Already a vocal advocate for the Liverpool city region, Mr Grover has been an export champion for the Department of International Trade for the last five years. Tony McDonough reports
One of the leading figures in Liverpool’s business community is to spearhead the drive to strengthen the economic links between Merseyside and China.
Paul Grover, an associate director at project management consultancy Arup, is the new chair of the Liverpool China Partnership (LCP), which is rolling out its new membership scheme, designed to provide greater flexibility and exposure for organisations and businesses looking to build ties with China.
Already a vocal advocate for the Liverpool city region, Mr Grover has been an export champion for the Department of International Trade for the last five years and became an export champion for the Northern Powerhouse in April 2019.
He was presented with a Board of Trade Award in 2018 in recognition of his work to foster inward investment by leading a series of overseas missions.
Paul was announced as the new chair during a special China Partnership reception attended by more than 60 stakeholders and guests included the Chinese Acting Consul General Yingjie Fan and the Let’s meet Shanghai! campaign ambassador, Chinese actor Li ZongHan.
LCP was established in 2015 by Invest Liverpool and city region public, private and academic partners with the aim to expand, strengthen and deliver greater benefit from the Liverpool city region and Isle of Man’s business links with China. Mr Grover succeeds Max Steinberg and Ellen Cutler as the new chair of LCP.
He said: “Liverpool China Partnership’s role has evolved significantly over the last four years and we feel that the time is now right to grow the partnership and provide a more diverse and inclusive offering for our members.
“We want to expand the partnership to strengthen links with China in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism. We understand that our members have different needs and goals and may be at different stages of entering into China, and this is reflected in the new membership tiers.
“The three annual membership packages ranging from £600 to £5,000 plus have been designed to suit companies and organisations at every stage of entering into China.”
Over the last four years, LCP has supported the City Region to advance civic, trade, investment, education and cultural links with Shanghai and other priority cities including Kunming, Tianjin, Qingdao and Xi’an.
Gary Millar, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool, added: “It’s incredibly fitting that these new growth plans for Liverpool China Partnership coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Liverpool-Shanghai twinning, a special relationship which goes back not just 20 years but 200 years.”
And Mr Yingjie Fan, Acting Consul General, said: “It’s wonderful to witness that flourishing relationship between Liverpool and Shanghai, particularly as we mark this special anniversary year of the twinning of the two cities.
If you would like to learn more about Liverpool China Partnership and its membership packages, contact Maggie Zhang at mzhang@investliverpool.com