Described as a landmark agreement, the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is the first deal between the EU and a country in South East Asia.
Once it enters into force, the FTA will provide greater market access and will remove customs duties and other barriers to trade. Sectors anticipated to benefit particularly include pharmaceuticals, electronics, chemicals and food products.
Despite being concluded in October 2014, the FTA has not yet entered into force as, before it can do so, it must be ratified.
The ratification process has been delayed because the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU) has been asked to decide on the areas of competence which apply to the European Commission and the EU Member States when it comes to making bilateral trade deals.
The Court’s opinion is expected in the first half of this year. In advance of the decision, both the EU and Singapore have reaffirmed their commitment to the deal.
On a recent visit to Singapore, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that the FTA “will open doors and create opportunities for companies big and small, help to boost economic growth and investment, and create jobs”.
Noting that Singapore and the EU are longstanding partners with a shared belief in free and open trade within a rules-based global trading system, Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang said that the new agreement will reinforce his country’s efforts to remain open and connected while strengthening its robust economic relations with the EU.
In 2016, the EU was Singapore’s second largest trading partner, accounting for 11% of its global trade. Singapore is the EU’s largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
On Wednesday 22nd March Norfolk Chamber held a thought provoking HR Forum that examined pay discrimination in the workplace. Over 25 members attended the topical session that was delivered by expert speakers from Howes Percival.
The afternoon encouraged stimulating discussions among HR professionals and business leaders, during a time of key changes in employment law. With new legislation coming in to effect in April 2017 requiring larger businesses to produce reports on the pay gaps between men and women in their organisations, there was plenty to talk about.
Nicola Butterworth, a solicitor at Howes Percival kicked things off with a general employment law update that covered a range of issues from changes to statutory payments to the ‘gig economy’. This led to an interesting review of recent landmark cases and an interactive Q and A session.
Howes Percival Partner, Graham Irons then went on to discuss the main feature of the session; reviewing the pay gap between genders in the workplace. Graham explained key details of the reporting requirements business will soon face and reviewed a number of fascinating pay discrimination cases.
Our next HR Forum will be held on 21st June. You can find more details about the event and book your place by clicking here.
Businesses across the Norfolk, particularly in rural areas, are still without reliable broadband connections, despite companies saying the availability of fully functional broadband is extremely important to their operations, according to the results of a survey released today (Monday) by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
All Norfolk companies surveyed (100%) say a reliable broadband connection is important, (90% say extremely so), yet one in five (20%) suffer from unreliable connections (12% not very reliable; 8% not at all reliable).
The findings also show that firms in rural areas are at least twice as likely to have unreliable connections (30%) as those in towns (15%), inner cities (13%), and suburban areas (12%).
Smaller businesses are the most likely to suffer from unreliable broadband, with nearly a quarter (24%) of sole traders and 21% of micro-businesses reporting problems.
The survey suggests that more reliable connections would allow businesses to do more. Over half of businesses (54%) say if the reliability of their broadband connection was improved it would allow them to use more applications, particularly cloud-based services (24%), transfer of large files (16%), remote server access for employees (14%).
Nova Fairbank, Public Affairs Manager of Norfolk Chamber said:
“Norfolk’s business community report that our digital infrastructure is still not fit for purpose. Throughout the county, significant numbers of companies of every size and sector lack reliable internet connectivity – a basic requirement for businesses to operate efficiently in today’s world.
“Unreliable connections stunt productivity, causing needless delays, costs and frustration. While businesses across the county are affected, the BCC research shows that its rural areas and small businesses that are most likely to suffer. An unreliable connection acts as an obstacle to growth, and puts those firms most in need of support at a competitive disadvantage.”
Commenting on the national picture, Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“We’ve been calling on both providers and on government for years to fund the necessary upgrades required to deliver superfast broadband to business communities. Regulators, too, must ensure that firms actually get the quality and speeds of connection they are promised. While we welcome recent ministerial announcements about investing in 5G technology and efforts to build a world-class digital infrastructure in the UK, there is still a long way to go in getting the basics right.
“The immediate focus must be on providing all companies with connections that are reliable and of sufficient speed, which would boost business confidence and encourage firms to maximise opportunities for growth, trade and investment.”
The Prime Minister, Theresa May will trigger Article 50 on Wednesday 29 March 2017. This will start the process to take the UK from out of the European Union.
Whilst many predicted that Brexit would cause a crisis for the UK’s economy, the reality is that, apart from an initial significant slump in the Pound, and its continued reduced value, the overall UK economy grew by 1.8% in 2016.
Norfolk’s most successful businesses recognise the need to stay positive and be able to take advantage of a whatever situation the economy finds itself in. They understand that there are opportunities in times of uncertainty, as well as risks.
Commenting on the position of his company, in relation to Brexit, Gordon Chetwood, Managing Director of Pasta Foods Ltd said: “Pasta Foods has seen an upward path since the UK’s Brexit vote. Most of our pasta competitors are European businesses supplying into the UK, so the devaluation of the pound makes us more competitive to UK customers, in spite of the fact that we have faced rising costs as we buy raw materials from Europe.
“In our snack business, we export snacks across the world to over 40 countries and we have seen very good sales growth in spite of raw material cost inflation and we anticipate that this will continue into the future.”
For the next edition of the Norfolk Voice magazine, we want to hear from more Chamber members about the impact of Brexit on them. What they have been doing, as a result of Brexit, and what plans they have to take advantage of future opportunities.
Has your company taken advantage of the lower Pound and increased your exports; are you looking at new markets; or trying to source new suppliers – perhaps from within the UK? What future opportunities do you see as a result of Brexit?
Also, what does your business need to see from the Brexit negotiations? Just a few of the business comments we have heard so far include: the overall need for clarity; a bureaucratic-free system for EU workers; simplified regulations post Brexit and a reduction in red tape; and to keep tariffs with the EU to a minimum.
Please send your comments to Nova Fairbank. Email: [email protected] by no later than close of play on Friday 31 March 2017.
The removal of 24-hours lights from the A140 Cromer Road after the completion of major gas diversion work has provided a short respite for motorists, but signals will be in use again for the rest of this week (from Thursday 23 March). The signals will only be in use when needed to provide a safety zone while 34 beams are lifted into place on the bridge that will carry the A140 over Norwich Northern Distributor Road. These lifts can be delayed by any wind stronger than a moderate breeze, and although the reinforced concrete beams may all be in place by Friday evening, it is possible that work will have to continue into the weekend. B1149 Holt Road 24-hour signals
From Tuesday 28 March (corrected) 24-hour traffic lights will be in place at the roundabout construction site where Holt Road will connect with the realigned Drayton Lane, south of Horsford. These will be two-way lights, except for a period on 3-4 April when they will be four-way at the crossroads with Church Street and old Drayton Lane. The traffic lights will remain in use until the four-day closure (10-13 April) of Holt Road for the final surfacing and tie-in of the new Drayton Lane roundabout. The only access road at the southern end of Horsford will be Church Street to the A140 Cromer Road. Norfolk County Council and Balfour Beatty apologise for the disruption and inconvenience these unavoidable traffic management measures will cause to road users.
The Chamber team spent Thursday (23 March) out of the office on a day of fun and team-building.
We started the day at Quasar Norwich by splitting into two equal teams and shooting lasers at one another. It was great fun, with the red team (Jason, Jack, Nova, Emily, Naomi, Tina and Julie) coming out victorious over the blue team (Caroline, Jake, Joe, Louise, Darcy, Philippa and Jenny) in both games.
Food was next on the agenda as the team arrived at Chamber member The Library Restaurant for a well-earned lunch.
The team finished the day with some puzzling solving in the History Mystery Escape Rooms (another Chamber member) at the Norwich Guildhall. Team A (Jack, Joe, Tina, Julie, Caroline, Louise and Jenny) completed both puzzles with time to spare earnig them a silver and a gold badge. Team ‘Chambe Detectives’ (Jason, Jake, Nova, Darcy, EMily, Naomi and Philippa) managed to come away with a silver badge after completing their second puzzle, but with over 5 minutes to spare!
Both before and after the referendum vote last year, the idea was mooted that the UK could always fall back on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules if it failed to agree a deal with the EU.
However, CBI President Paul Drechsler warned his audience at the Lord Mayor’s recent Business and Investment dinner, this scenario would have disastrous consequences.
“Wherever I go across Europe, I hear concerns about the UK leaving without a deal and falling into WTO rules,” he said. “We should be under no illusions about what this would really mean. A ‘no deal’ scenario would open a Pandora’s Box of economic consequences.”
The UK would face tariffs on 90% of its EU exports by value and a raft of new regulatory hurdles, Mr Drechsler claimed.
Some firms are getting ready for this possibility in order to reduce economic damage, he continued, while some are sitting tight and hoping for a deal.
“But in reality,” Mr Drechlser said, “many firms can’t prepare because the cost of change is simply too high to even consider it.”
Whether you’re a salmon farmer in Scotland, an aerospace giant in the Midlands or a tech start-up in Cambridge, he went on, Brexit will affect your business so the CBI is busy talking to Ambassadors from other EU countries, as well as sister organisations in France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Malta.
Because leaving without a deal would bring significant tariff and regulatory barriers to trade, Mr Drechsler concluded, business strongly supports the Government in its ambition to secure an ambitious trade agreement with the EU.
The funding bid that is to be submitted to central government by Norfolk County Council is greatly welcomed by Norfolk Chamber members. The document could pave the way for construction of a long-awaited third river crossing for Great Yarmouth starting in 2020. For many years, the Great Yarmouth Chamber Council has campaigned for a third river crossing, with successive Great Yarmouth Chamber Council presidents calling for investment to support greater economic growth in the town.
The Great Yarmouth Chamber Council has worked in partnership with local businesses, the Borough Council of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk County Council and the New Anglia LEP to pull together support for the business case which is now being finalised and is expected to be submitted later this month. The Department for Transport is expected to make a decision during the summer on whether to grant the project ‘programme entry’ status and award the County Council further funding to develop the planning application and detailed surveys and design work for the third river crossing.
Norfolk County was awarded more than £1 million last August by the Department for Transport to develop an outline business case for a new road bridge across the River Yare. Since then, the County Council in conjunction with its partners, including Norfolk Chamber, have been gathering evidence and galvanising support for the project, using traffic surveys, a public consultation and gaining the backing of local business and community leaders.
Nova Fairbank, Public Affairs Manager at Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “A third river crossing in Great Yarmouth will help to improve that connectivity and create thousands of new jobs. It will improve links across the town and to the rest of the region and reduce congestion. All of which will save businesses time and money, whilst allowing them to increase economic growth.”
Mark Goodall, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership Board member, said: “The case we are making is a compelling one. Improving connectivity is key to increasing our productivity, attracting inward investment and retaining local talent. A third river crossing in Great Yarmouth would support all three; helping to create thousands of new jobs, opening up our all-energy coastline and reducing congestion which costs our local business time, money and customers.”
Cllr Graham Plant, the leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: “The benefits of the Third River Crossing for the borough and region are huge, and the borough council is absolutely committed to working with partners across the public and private sectors to make a compelling case to Government for the funding required to make this important piece of infrastructure a reality.”
Martin Wilby, Chairman of Norfolk County Council’s Environment, Development and Transport Committee, said: “The third river crossing is vital to Great Yarmouth’s future prosperity. The town has enormous potential for economic growth, with its burgeoning status as a hub for the offshore renewable energy industry as well as hosting two government-designated Enterprise Zone areas.”
Norfolk County Council’s proposal for a third river crossing would see a lifting bridge constructed linking the newly-renumbered A47 (formerly A12) at the Harfreys roundabout in the Southtown area of Yarmouth to the port and the Enterprise Zones on the other side of the river. The new bridge would help to reduce traffic build-up on the town’s roads, particularly on its existing Haven and Breydon bridges over the River Yare which often become congested during ‘rush hour’ times and peak tourist seasons.
It is estimated that £120 million would need to be spent between now and the project’s completion to design and construct the bridge, with Norfolk County Council seeking 80% of these costs from the Department for Transport and 20% to come from a local contribution. This could come from a variety of sources, possibly including, but not limited to, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, local authorities and the private sector.
The third river crossing is part of a wider plan to transform the Great Yarmouth area over the coming years to make it easier for people to get to and around and make it a more attractive place to live, work and visit. This will help attract future investment and development to the area, creating skilled jobs, business opportunities and giving local people a better quality of life.
A leading Parliamentary Committee has sought to shed light on the potential impact of four different scenarios on the UK’s post-Brexit international trade relationships.
Published by the House of Commons International Trade Committee, a new report considers not only the implications of each model for the UK’s future trading relationships, but also the relevant issues that the Government will need to resolve.
The scenarios considered are: the UK’s relationship with the World Trade Organization (WTO); the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that the Government intends to strike with the EU; the implications of the UK falling back on trading with the EU under WTO rules alone and the UK’s future trading relationship with non-EU countries.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Committee recommends that the Government should evaluate the implications of the UK’s rejoining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Doing so would, MPs argue, offer an opportunity for a smoother transition as the UK leaves the EU.
The prospect of UK membership of EFTA from 2019 onwards could be to Britain’s advantage the report suggests, calling on the Secretary of State to publish a White Paper on EFTA membership before summer 2017, so that negotiations can commence before the end of the year.
“The Government is about to embark on a process that will transform our trading relationships in Europe and across the globe,” Committee Chairman Angus MacNeil said.
He added that the Government must not only set out its vision for UK trade after Brexit, but also provide reassurance that contingency plans will be in place in case an agreement with the EU is not reached.
MPs also want clarification about the extent to which the UK can start negotiating new FTAs before it leaves the EU. The report UK Trade Options Beyond 2019 can be found here.
Few MPs go as far as the one who recently said that trade talks between the UK and the EU could be completed in an afternoon, but there is clearly a belief in some parts of the British Parliament that such negotiations should take months rather than years.
Unfortunately, any examination of how actual trade deals have been completed in recent years would seem to suggest that the latter is almost exclusively the case.
The latest example concerns the ongoing attempt by the European Commission to set-up talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Negotiations originally started 10 years ago, in 2007, but difficulties with dealing with a body comprising 10 nations at very different stages in their development led the Commission to concentrate its attention on bilateral deals with the more willing ASEAN members.
So far it has concluded, but not yet ratified, bilateral trade agreements with Singapore and Vietnam, and is pursuing negotiations with Indonesia, the Philippines and also, as regards investment protection, with Myanmar.
At a recent meeting, however, trade leaders from the EU and ASEAN agreed to look at resuming free trade talks between the two regions.
Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said: “There is still much to be done to unlock the full potential of the EU-ASEAN relationship, and the quickly changing international environment now makes us turn our eyes even more towards Asia. I am glad to see that both sides are now ready to seize the momentum and start preparations towards re-launching these negotiations.”
It could be next year before anything substantive emerges, however, these things take time.
On Tuesday 14th March, Norfolk Chamber helped coordinate the Your Future Career’s event at Attleborough Academy. Over 250 student attended the event, where they each had the opportunity to engage with local businesses, prompting them to learn more about the types of careers available. This event is part of an initiative supported by the Norfolk Chamber to bridge the gap between young people and businesses and inspiring them to think about their futures.
Over 250 students from years 9 and 10 came along to learn more about the career development opportunities within the 30+ companies who attended the event including MCP Solicitors, Lovewell Blake and the Army as well as further education options at the UEA, Lincoln University and Norwich City College.
As well as the exhibition, with students milling around the sports hall and engaging with businesses at their stands, there were also four workshops running in nearby classrooms. Easton & Otley College ran a workshop which depicted what studying at a land based college is like, the types of courses they offer and the careers these could lead to. They were keen to impress upon the students that studying agriculture was more than just mud!
Another workshop was ran by The Masons Trust who educated the students on their new social media style careers related website ‘I can be a…’. The site allows the students to find out more information about the job/apprenticeship opportunities out there, take a quiz which pinpoints careers that be suited to them based on their hobbies/interests and find out more information about sectors they are interested in.
Other workshops included UEA who delivered a session about the 37,000 degree options available (a figure which shocked the students!) and Independence Matters, a local care provider who help people with a variety of health and mental health needs.
Overall the event was a huge success which highlighted the student’s enthusiasm about learning more about their local business community and willingness to consider their futures. The businesses also enjoyed the interaction with the workforce of the future and the platform the event provided to educate the students about the work they do.
If you are interested in representing your business and enthusing young people about a career in your sector, please click here to register your interest.