British businesses are being offered the chance to make their views known when it comes to international trade visits.
In an effort to stimulate additional interest among existing and prospective exporters, the Department for International Trade (DIT) has made a list of scheduled ministerial visits available online.
The idea is that businesses will then have the opportunity to have their say on “in market” issues relevant to any of the countries which the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, will be visiting.
Launched as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to encourage more UK companies to export, the initiative is seen as a way of involving businesses in discussions aimed at boosting the country’s post-Brexit trade and investment relationships.
Mr Fox and his DIT team are currently scheduled to visit nine countries during the first three months of this year. Available at www.events.trade.gov.uk, the full list includes both EU and non-EU countries.
The former include Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Bulgaria (plus Switzerland) with trade talks also due to take place further afield in Hong Kong, India, Japan and the USA.
Businesses that have reason to believe that ministerial assistance might help their cause in any of the countries concerned are invited to contact the DIT (contact details and additional information can be found by clicking the link shown above).
The list currently shows countries to be visited over a three-month period, but will presumably be updated in the coming weeks. No dates or locations of the visits are given – just the month and country.
In the words of the International Trade Secretary, the move “is responding to requests from UK businesses and putting them at the heart of trade policy, by getting their input into international trade visits ahead of time”.
