BUSINESSES are being urged to export to China to bring success.

UK Trade and Investment staged the first of about 20 seminars yesterday urging the region's business leaders to take on the world.

The China Challenge, held at Durham County Cricket Club's Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street, highlighted the export potential offered by the Chinese economy.

At present, China is the UK's 15th largest export market - with an estimated £2.8bn of British goods heading to the Far East.

However, the Chinese Government estimates trade with the UK will grow by about £30bn a year, and yesterday's seminar was designed to ensure North-East exporters are not left behind.

Among the speakers at yesterday's event were Chris Fraser, chairman of China-Euro Capital, and Mike Rowse, director-general of Hong Kong-based InvestHK.

UK Trade and Investment recently joined forces with regional development agency One NorthEast to create a China unit to encourage business links between the region and Shanghai.

At present, less than five per cent of North-East businessman are thought to have moved into exporting, which is worth £10bn a year to the region's economy and supports tens of thousands of jobs.

Among the seminars planned for the rest of the week are workshops on the use of the web, with speakers from Internet company Yahoo, and exporting to the US.

Ross Cordiner, regional head of UK Trade and Investment, said: "You don't have to be a large business to be able to export. Small companies can see their turnover increase significantly once they start exporting.