Bank of China among winners in Scotland

Bank of China, and Sanpower－the parent company of House of Fraser－were among the six winners of the China-Scotland Business Awards, which celebrate businesses connections between China and Scotland.

The winners were announced during the Chinese Burns Supper 2018 at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday.

James Brodie, the China-Britain Business Council's director for Scotland, said:"The quality of the entries ... has been remarkably high. It's brought up some fantastic success stories of Scottish firms overcoming various challenges to create very profitable businesses in China."

The Glasgow Branch of Bank of China (UK) was presented with the Special Award for Contribution to Scotland-China relations, while Sanpower won Chinese Investor of the Year.

The China Welcome of the Year Award went to Laings, a Scottish jeweler that has made concerted efforts to improve its customer experience for Chinese visitors.

Peak Scientific Instruments won the Exporter of the Year Award. The company has established a large presence in China and 30 percent of its sales now come from that market. Findlay Irvine, which manufactures a range of transport-related safety equipment, won the New to China Exporter Award.

The International Diabetes Center in Shenzhen won the Education-Business Collaboration of the Year Award for a collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Hua Xia Healthcare to pursue opportunities in China's healthcare market.

On tourism, Brodie said: "It's been incredible to witness the growth in Chinese visitors to Scotland in the last few years, and the industry has clearly gone out of their way to equip themselves to accommodate them."

Keith Brown, the Scottish economy secretary, said: "The economic ties between our two countries continue to flourish.