Britain keen to strengthen energy ties with China

LONDON - The British government is "very much looking forward" to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit next week and hopes to deepen cooperation with China in the energy sector as well as on climate change, Britain's energy secretary said here on Tuesday.

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"We are very much looking forward to Premier Li's visit. There is a detailed set of negotiation on everything in trade relations, but in particular, energy is going to be a key part of discussion," Edward Davey, secretary of state for energy and climate change, said in an interview with Xinhua during the Economist's UK Energy 2014 conference.

There will be discussions about Britain's investment in China and China's investment in Britain, as well as negotiations about nuclear power and renewable projects, Davey added.

"When I visited Beijing last year, there was a huge interest in the offshore wind industry. We've also got some work that we've done with China on nuclear decommissioning, on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and on energy efficiency, so there is a very rich agenda. I think we will have a very full dialogue," said Davey.

Britain is now reforming its electricity market and encouraging foreign investment, said the secretary of state, adding foreign capital from China, Japan, South Korea and some other countries is interested in Britain's energy market.

Davey also praised China's efforts to cut greenhouse emissions, saying he was impressed by how much China has done to reduce the use of coal.

Chinese Premier Li is scheduled to arrive in Britain on June 16 to pay an official visit and attend an annual meeting with his British counterpart David Cameron.