On 18 July 2023, H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang visited Leeds, a major city in Northern England, and met with Lord Mayor of Leeds Al Garthwaite at the Leeds City Council House.

Ambassador Zheng thanked the Lord Mayor Garthwaite for her warm reception. He said that Leeds is an important economic, manufacturing, financial and education centre in Northern England, and has made fruitful achievements in its sister-city relations with Hangzhou of China.

Ambassador Zheng pointed out that China, on its journey to comprehensively promote modernisation through a Chinese path, is expanding high-level opening up, and accelerating green and low-carbon transition and the development of the digital economy. He noted that China’s economy demonstrated a sound momentum of recovery in the first half of the year with its GDP growing by 5.5%, and that the sound fundamentals sustaining the long-term development of China’s economy and its remarkable resilience and potential remain unchanged, which will continue to provide new opportunities for countries around the world, including the UK. He said that Hangzhou and Leeds with their respective advantages have great potential for collaboration and expressed hope that the two cities will build on their sister-city relationship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and cultural exchanges for the greater benefit of the people of both sides.

The Lord Mayor Garthwaite welcomed Ambassador Zheng's visit and said that Leeds cherishes its relations with sister-city Hangzhou of China, and expressed deep appreciation for Hangzhou’s assistance to Leeds during the Covid pandemic. She expressed pride in Leeds' fruitful cooperation with China in the areas such as trade, finance, education, culture, medicine and health, and infrastructure development, and said that China's continuous and rapid development is admirable, which provides a broad space for practical cooperation between Leeds and Hangzhou. She said that Leeds is willing to enhance exchanges, mutual learning and cooperation with Hangzhou and other Chinese cities, and expressed hope to receive more delegations from Hangzhou.

Consul-General Tang Rui at the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, and Minister Counsellor Bi Haibo and Counsellor Kong Xiangwen at the Chinese Embassy in the UK participated in the meeting.