UK-China trade hit record high in 2013, says Chinese ambassador China is the UK's biggest trade partner destination outside the US and EU. Official figures show that British companies exported £11.2bn worth of goods and services to China in the first 11 months of 2013, and imported £30.3bn. The Office for National Statistics will release figures for December next month. On a recent visit to China David Cameron, prime minister, sealed trade deals worth £5.6bn between the two countries. China has also pledged to invest billions of pounds in British infrastructure, including in the HS2 high-speed rail project and new nuclear power plants. The 48 Group Club is an independent business network committed to promoting positive relations between China and the UK. Its founding members, known as the "icebreakers" of China-UK trade, were the first Western businessmen to break through the trade embargo on the newly-founded People's Republic of China in the early 1950s. Its chairman, Stephen Perry, hailed a new era in UK-China relations, saying that Britain could be the "most profitable destination in the Western world for Chinese outward investment in infrastructure, real estate, energy and transportation."