On 24 February 2026, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang attended a Spring Festival celebration hosted by UK financial institutions and delivered remarks.

Ambassador Zheng extended festive greetings for the Year of the Horse to members of the UK financial sector and commended them for their long-standing commitment to promoting China–UK financial cooperation. He noted that this year China will begin implementing its 15th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development. China will focus on expanding domestic demand and building a strong domestic market, accelerate scientific and technological innovation and the growth of future industries, continue advancing the green and low-carbon transition, and further expand high-standard opening up, so as to share development opportunities with other countries.

He further noted that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent visit to China has yielded fruitful outcomes. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Starmer reached an important common understanding on developing a long-term and consistent comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the UK. Government agencies, institutions and businesses of the two sides signed more than 20 cooperation agreements. China’s pursuit of high-quality development and the new progress in China–UK relations have opened up broader prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between Chinese and British financial institutions. China welcomes UK financial institutions to seize the opportunities, expand investment in China, and continue to deepen their engagement in the Chinese market. He called on financial institutions in both countries to strengthen cooperation for win-win outcomes and make new contributions to the sustained and steady growth of China–UK relations.

Representatives of the UK financial sector spoke highly of China’s development achievements and the important progress in China–UK relations. They expressed their readiness to seize the current opportunities and achieve better development through broader cooperation.