Lecture by Sir Douglas Flint CBE for the China Centre Seminar series

We are very pleased to invite you to a lecture by Sir Douglas Flint CBE for the China Centre Seminar series on Thursday 24 October.  The lecture will take place in the Webb Library from 5.30 – 7.00pm.

The details of the lecture are attached and a summary is below.

China's Belt and Road Initiative – understanding its potential impact

China's 'Belt and Road Initiative' ('BRI') is one of the most ambitious global infrastructure development programmes ever conceived, within an overriding objective of contributing to a world of 'shared prosperity'.

In December 2017 Sir Douglas Flint was invited by the Chancellor to become the UK's special envoy to the BRI to harness and project the UK's capabilities to support the commercial objectives of BRI.  In his talk Sir Douglas will explore the origins of the BRI, its development, the role international companies are now playing and why the programme attracts both extensive support and concern from within the international community.

Sir Douglas Flint CBE is Chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen plc, one of Europe's largest investment companies, a position to which he was appointed on 1st January 2019. He is also Chairman of IP Group plc which helps to create, build and support outstanding intellectual property based companies primarily through collaboration with partner universities.

Douglas Flint retired as Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc on 30th September 2017, having been appointed to that role in December 2010. For fifteen years prior to this he was HSBC's Group Finance Director, joining from KPMG where he was a partner. Between 2005 and 2011 he was also a Non-Executive Director of BP plc. During his HSBC career, he was a member of both the Mayor of Beijing's and the Mayor of Shanghai's International Business Leaders' Advisory Councils and served on the International Advisory Board of the China Europe International Business School. He was also up until his retirement from HSBC, Chair of City UK's China Market Advisory Group.

As well as serving as HMG Special Envoy to China's Belt and Road Initiative Sir Douglas serves on the Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Co-operation.

In June 2006 Douglas Flint was honoured with a CBE and in June 2018 was awarded a awarded a Knighthood, both awards in recognition of his services to the finance industry.

We warmly invite you to join us on 24 October.

Our remaining seminars this term will be:

Monday 4 November 2019, 5.30 – 7pm, Professor Zhu Tianbiao, China's multi-layered state capacity in the context of central-local relations

Tuesday 26 November 2019, 5.30 – 7pm, Dr Donald B. Wagner, Iron and steel in Chinese history

Further details can be found on the China Centre webpage- https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/research/china/china-centre