CCTV9英语新闻12月：中国和英国的经济关系

 This is the second day of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit in China. Let me brief you on the economic relationship developed between the two countries in the past years.

The bilateral¹ trade between the two sides resumed in the 1950s and gradually expanded in the past decades, even under a slow growth between China and the whole European continent. In the first ten months of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached 56 billion U.S. dollars, increasing 7and half percent from a year ago. The UK has become China’s second largest trade partner in the EU, just behind Germany.

At the same time, the investment between the two sides has also been increasing rapidly. In the past five years, China has invested 12.4 billion U.S. dollars in the UK, either in direct investment or through M&As. Just in 2012 alone, China invested more than 8 billion U.S. dollars in the UK, which accounted for one eighth of the full-year Chinese direct investment overseas.

In the financial area, the two sides see great potentials as well, especially in the off-shore yuan business. The City of London launched a working group to promote the set up of an off-shore yuan center in the region, which attracted key international banks such as HSBC, Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank.

1 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。