Editor's note: Co-hosted by the British Embassy, the China-Britain Business Council and Shenyang city government, UK Week started in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province on Oct 12. The week's events covered several fields including culture, business, education and retail and were expected to promote collaboration between Shenyang and the United Kingdom.

During the week, Andrew Key, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Beijing, delivered a speech on creativity motivating the British economy, at Northeastern University in Shenyang. Before the speech, he shared his opinions on the prospect of collaboration between Shenyang and the UK with China Daily reporter Liu Ce.

This is the first time that Shenyang has hosted a large UK event so why did you choose it to hold UK Week?

We chose Shenyang be-cause Shenyang is a really important city. It is a big hub for the northeast, and we believe that creates potential for more cooperation with the UK. There is already a lot. It is a great pleasure to be here in Dongbei University - and that itself is an example. There are links in education between Shenyang and UK, with partnerships with a number of UK universities. But there are also big economic links and we believe there is potential for more. So we have a week of activities to cover a number of themes from education, culture, to advanced manufacturing, to sustainable organization, which we think are the right areas for cooperation.

I heard that your speech is about innovation, so what can we learn from the UK in the creative industry and also why is the creative industry so important for the economy?

The creative industry is a very important part of the UK's economy and is now, I think, worth something like 71 billion pounds a year. That is partly from having a very strong tradition of creative industries, because we have given it a lot of attention over the years. But in terms of why creation and innovation is important for any country's economy, I think its because true innovation is how the next generation of products develops or the next generation of technological solutions meet local or global challenges. Also, innovation helps companies become more competitive. That is how sustainable development works.

In the future, which area do you think will have the greatest potential for cooperation between the UK and Shenyang?

From what I have learnt, industries in Shenyang and Liaoning are increasingly developing their higher technology capacity and that is an area where the UK has fantastic strength in advanced manufacturing research and development. We had a seminar earlier this week on sustainable development. There are some British companies in Shenyang making efforts to push forward cooperation in the service sector and that is also where the UK is strong. We not only have a long history in the financial sector as a global financial center, but also other industries. So there are a number of sectors that have potential. I think again in the education and culture sectors we have seen stronger development.

Co-hosted by British Embassy, China-Britain Business Council and Shenyang city government, the UK Week opened in Shenyang on Oct 12. Tang Dayuan / for China Daily