Angus Council leader Iain Gaul went fishing with the Chinese consul general in a bid to reel in lucrative investment.
Mr Li Ruiyou was taken on a fishing trip by Mr Gaul at the Piperdam golf and leisure resort as part of a relationship-building visit with the council leadership team.
The unofficial visit was also being filmed and the footage is to be sent to a Chinese television channel which has previously carried a programme about the county.
The afternoon also gave Mr Gaul a chance to discuss lucrative trade links and further enhance the lengthy relationship with China that has been forged by the county.
Mr Gaul said Angus is well placed to reap the benefit of the Chinese ties, which will hopefully see huge sums of money being invested in the county.
He said: “We have been told by Chinese business people that they want to invest in Scotland because we have a good reputation.
“The money they have in China is absolutely unbelievable. The demand is there and we have people in this area that can satisfy those needs.
“Angus is a lovely place to visit with a good quality of life but we also want to let them know we have a highly skilled workforce here and business opportunities for people that want to invest.”
Mr Gaul said Mr Li paid an official visit to Angus last year when they discussed the relationship built up with China and particulary with the city of Yantai.
Angus has now had a sister area agreement with the Government of Yantai for 14 years.
Yantai is one hour by plane east of Beijing and has been described as “a thriving, modern city within Shandong Province, one of the most prosperous and advanced areas in China”.
A feature of the agreement is a biannual council and business trip. Mr Gaul said the visit gave Mr Li his first experience of fishing while further strengthening the county’s Chinese links.
He said: “This is an unofficial visit and the purpose is to further cement relationships and look at ways we can encourage inward invesestment into this part of Scotland.
“China is the world’s largest economy and the most vibrant and they literally have more money than they know what to do with.
“I want to see if we can get some of it coming in to Angus to create new jobs and wealth. There is a real opportunity for businesses locally to benefit from these links.
“If we can get inward investment there are other opportunities for businesses to feed off. Mr Li said he’s never been fishing but has always wanted to because he’s seen it on television programmes.
“I’m a keen fisherman so we set it up for Piperdam specifically because it’s a leisure complex with golf and fishing that’s the kind of thing that many Chinese businessmen have an interest in.”