48 Group Club to launche Young Icebreakers in China

The 48 Group Club, an independent business network committed to promoting positive relations between Britain and China, will launch the Young Icebreakers China on 11th July, the group announced on Wednesday.

The Young Icebreakers China aims to build on the six decade legacy of the 48 Group in "breaking the ice" between British and Chinese businesses, policymakers and individuals amongst the new generation who will lead the bilateral relationship in the 21st century.

Jim O'Neill, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and world-famous creator of the BRIC concept that encapsulates the central role of emerging economies, said: "A lot has changed since the original 48 Group Club 'Icebreakers' made their journey to Beijing 60 years ago."

"What was a 10-day journey in 1953 is in 2013 a 10-hour non-stop flight. Business relationships between our two countries continue to improve and prosper, and the role of the 48 Group in nurturing them should not be underestimated. I am delighted to be a part of the 60th anniversary celebrations," he said

Stephen Perry, Chairman of the 48 Group Club and son of Jack Perry, who organized the first Icebreaker mission, said:"In my 40 years of working with China, my father's sense of the inevitability of China's return has been vindicated."

"From the very start, he perceived that Dr. Joseph Needham's sense of China's history was right and that the country's great sense of innovation, its determination, and its deep civilization, made its return inevitable," he said.