I was delighted to attend Lord Green's event last week, launching the flagship initiative Exporting for Growth in the UK. PM David Cameron, HSBC Chief Executive Brian Robertson and PWC Chair Ian Powell all spoke extremely supportively of boosting the UK's export platform and getting more SME's engaged in exporting. Nick Baird, UKTI's CEO, launched some new initiatives to boost engagement including Yell.com supporting UKTI to go further in SME engagement and launching the National Export Prize event.
BBC presenter Evan Davis spoke eloquently about his 'Made in Britain' series.
I wanted to now say that the North East will follow up with two key events early in 2012 matching those launched in London. Firstly, we will participate in the national Exporting for Growth Prize event by selecting a regional winner from North East applicants in early March 2012. We plan to hold a Dragons Den style event where those attending on the day will be able to vote directly for their preferred winning SME pitch. The winner will go forward into the national award .
Then, on March 27th we will host an SME and intermediaries event which will encourage further developments in 'Exporting for Growth'. We intend to have several keynote business speakers at the event , including Lord Green , and we are being supported by the North East Chamber of Commerce in hosting the event.
The national challenge is to get more SME's exporting - and in the North East we have a proud legacy in international trade to promote. We also have a positive balance of payments in this region, exporting far more than we import; lets keep it going !!