I was delighted to read the recent BCC/DHL Express report stating that UK Exporting Confidence was at an all-time high. It backs up some of the trends we have seen recently in the North East region; for example the growth in exporting outside of Europe, developing new sales channels and a willingness for companies to try the so called 'MIST' markets - Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey. Some indeed also include Nigeria in that list!
My recent visits to companies include those who are exporting very high end artists materials to Asia (Unison Colour); a company opening an engineering design consultancy office in USA (PDL Solutions) and Allendale Brewery who are doing fantastic work attempting to open up sales channels in Asia. They all demonstrated a fantastic desire to go further, open up new markets and develop new sales techniques.
The newly formed British Business Centres also give more leverage toward our target of doubling exports by 2020, and the move to develop Overseas British Chambers of Commerce to assist in export development also will help.
Here in the North East we have a few milestones coming along:
- The North East in Global Europe Annual Conference on 5 March, where UKTI and NECC will be supporting the debate on the North Easts role in the European market;
- Export Week, 7-11 April, offering a range of events to help encourage more companies to export to more markets;
- A visit of the British Ambassador to Korea with the Korean Ambassador to the UK on 7/8 May
- The annual North East Exporters Awards on 15 May
- International Festival of Business, on 18/19 June, where UKTI North East is leading on the BENELUX events in Liverpool
And integrated into that, we are planning a visit from the new Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Livingston. He is keen to build on our Free Trade agreements, to develop sales in new markets and also to assist some of our larger companies to diversify into new markets.