Bank of China among the winners at Sino-Scottish business awards

Bank of China, and Sanpower - the parent company of House of Fraser - were among the six winners of the China-Scotland Business Awards, which celebrates growing 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.

It was the first time the annual gala dinner has featured the awards. The event also boasted a fusion of Burns Night traditions and Chinese New Year customs.

James Brodie, the China-Britain Business Council's director for Scotland, said: "The quality of the entries in this, our first year of running the awards, 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 linkup with the University of Edinburgh and Hua Xia Healthcare to pursue opportunities in China's healthcare market.

Brodie pointed out that the pioneering nature of the Scottish education sector in China includes efforts to commercialize world-leading research in key strategic areas, such as agriculture, healthcare and the low-carbon economy.

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 countries continue to flourish. The Scottish government is supporting more Scottish companies to export to China, and we continue to see significant investment into Scotland from Chinese businesses - which are now among our top five sources of inward investment."

Scotland will publish a revised strategy in the spring for its engagement with China, which will set out the areas for greater collaboration, such as trade and investment, education, and the exchange of culture, ideas and people.