From left to right: President Xi Jinping, Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat. – Photo © Inmarsat

On 22 October Inmarsat welcomed the President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Xi Jinping to its London headquarters, as part of the President’s historic State Visit to the UK.

The prestigious visit reflects the close working relationship between Inmarsat and China. China was one of the 86 countries that came together to found Inmarsat with a maritime safety mandate and over 35 years later Inmarsat continues to contribute to safety and security in the maritime and aviation worlds and, more recently, during disasters in China.

President Xi, accompanied by HRH The Duke of York, the Chinese Ambassador to London, HE Liu Xiaoming, the Rt Hon Greg Hands and Inmarsat executives, viewed Inmarsat’s Network Operations Centre to understand how Inmarsat is able to uniquely contribute to President Xi’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) strategic vision through the provision of critical global mobile broadband connectivity services, including Inmarsat’s revolutionary new service, Global Xpress.