CHINESE firms will today be invited to invest their millions in the north of England.

As part of his trade mission to China Chancellor, George Osborne, will showcase a selection of £24bn worth of investment opportunities at an event in Chengdu with senior investors, ahead of the upcoming State visit by President Xi to the UK next month.

Infrastructure and regeneration investment projects such as the Science Central development in Newcastle, are set out in a new Northern Pitchbook that will be presented.

The Chancellor has been joined by politicians and business leaders from the North looking to expand their work with China.

As part of the event the Chancellor will also announce potentially doubling Enterprise Zones across the North; a commitment to reinvigorate partnerships between Northern and Chinese cities, and efforts to build stronger links between universities in the two countries.

Mr Osborne said: "As we continue to work more closely with China, we have an unprecedented opportunity to secure significant investment into some of our most ambitious projects across our Northern Powerhouse.”

“From Liverpool to Newcastle, we are opening up our doors to investment that will not only help us to grow and create jobs, but will allow us to build infrastructure to rival any region in the world.”

“The North of England is already a magnet for foreign investment into the country and we’ve seen with announcements from Nissan and Hitachi into the North East recently highlighting how perfectly poised our Northern Powerhouse is to attract the eye of global companies.”

Leader of Newcastle City Council, Nick Forbes, who is part of the trade delegation, said: "Newcastle and the North-East, home of the original industrial revolution are integral to the rebuilding of our national manufacturing base. As the only region in England that already has a balance of trade surplus we have even more potential to be realised.

“I'm here in China with the Chancellor and other Northern Civic Leaders and businesses to present a united front for the investment opportunities we can offer."