Make one more market your goal for Export Week

Clive Drinkwater, UKTI’s Regional Director in the North West

With one month to go, Clive Drinkwater, Regional Director of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) North West, is challenging North West businesses to reach out to one more market, as the region prepares for the fifth national Export Week.

Export Week will take place from 10 – 14 November, with a range of free events aimed at helping companies across the UK to make the most of their overseas potential. It is a bi-annual national event which forms part of a drive to double UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020 and get 100,000 more companies exporting.

In the North West, events will cover a wide area from Europe to America and from the Middle East to Asia, concentrating on opportunities and trade tactics in each of these markets, with advice on everything from freight forwarding to finance.

There will also be a series of Women in International Business Forums taking place with all female panel sessions. In addition there will be the opportunity to join webinars covering the basics of customs regulations in partnership with HMRC.

Export Week will once again see UKTI team up with business leaders across the region to encourage companies to make the most of their overseas potential, and on Friday 14 November the new round of UKTI North West Export Champions for 2015-16 will be announced. They will be joining over 30 current Export Champions across the region to inspire and motivate those new to international trade, both by promoting the benefits of export via their own successes and by sharing knowledge and experience.

The previous Export Week, earlier this year, saw the UKTI North West team reach over 400 businesses with events exploring opportunities from Africa and Europe to Southern Asia and Japan.

Clive Drinkwater is encouraging businesses to sign up for events and gain insight into future markets. He says: “During Export Week and beyond I want to encourage businesses to reach out to new markets.

“If every current exporter in the region achieves this, we could increase the GDP in the North West by an estimated £2 billion, significantly aiding economic recovery and giving a boost to our competitiveness as a region.

“Export opportunities should always be borne in mind for future growth. The UK has only 0.8% of world population, and we need to reach the other 99.2% - one market at a time.”

For further information on all these events, please contact the North West International Trade Centre on 0161 875 2341 or email events@uktinorthwest.co.uk