IN the past week I have quite literally laid my life on the line to build better conditions for North-East businesses.

I could have been killed when our bus driver took a detour on the wrong carriage of a motorway; I’ve eaten my body weight in stunning Chinese cuisine; and raised a glass to more toasts than I ever imagined possible.

The Chinese custom of building “guanxi” – relationships – is such that we were given the most remarkable welcome by our hosts on a visit to Harbin, northeast China, to formalise friendship and business agreements we are confident will open up global trade opportunities.

The North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) already has a trade agreement with the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce and we have built on this by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Harbin Federation of Industry and Commerce.

On this visit, NECC was part of a delegation with Sunderland City Council, which has been very successful in developing a strong relationship with the City of Harbin during the past three years.

For some time I have been imploring businesses to take every possible opportunity to seek out new markets for their products and services. When the UK economy is contracting, it is especially important to engage with markets that are expanding and thus offering growth.

Harbin’s economy is likely to enjoy more than ten per cent growth this year.

New markets are not always easy to break into. With the active support of the city council and the local chamber of commerce we believe that we are well placed to assist members who would wish to take advantage of this expanding market of more than million people.

Being here for three days has been an unforgettable experience. We have received the greatest hospitality and genuine warmth from our hosts. They are so keen to explore links between our two business communities. They have shown us their aircraft manufacturing factory as proof of the quality they can achieve and taken us around their power plant equipment manufacturing facilities to demonstrate their heavy engineering strength.

They are strong in automotive, pharmaceuticals and food manufacturing too.

■ James Ramsbotham is chief executive of the North-East Chamber of Commerce.