Launched on 21 August by the Department for International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox, the export strategy sets out the Government\u2019s long-term ambition to increase total exports as a proportion of GDP from 30% to 35%. The strategy aims to encourage more businesses to export, providing businesses with advice and practical assistance on exporting and working with large companies to help build the capability of UK supply chains, and connect UK businesses to overseas buyers and markets.<\/p>\n
BPA\u2019s chief executive, Richard Ballantyne, said that while the UK was an import driven economy, there are \u201creal opportunities to increase exports to Europe and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Support essential<\/strong><\/p>\n He stressed: \u201cPorts are certainly ready to help facilitate the Government’s aims. Ports are vital to trade and it is essential that they are given the right economic and regulatory conditions to grow and develop to make trading easier and more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n The BPA is working with industry partners in Maritime UK to ensure that ports are included in the UK industrial strategy. It is also in talks with the Department for International Trade about the value of ports to supply chains and trade.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for ABP said: \u201cABP welcomes and supports the Government\u2019s initiatives to boost UK exports. As the UK\u2019s leading operator with 21 ports around the UK, including Britain\u2019s No.1 export port in Southampton, ABP is committed to investing in the best infrastructure and skills to help UK trade flow and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Morris, CEO of the UKMPG, commented \u201cWe very much welcome the Government\u2019s trade strategy. One of the benefits of the Brexit debate, regardless of your views on EU membership, has been that international trade is now much higher up the political agenda.<\/p>\n “International trade boosts our key industries, brings choice and affordability to consumers and investment and jobs to coastal communities. And as an island nation ports are crucial to making this trade happen. Accordingly, UKMPG would like to see the Government take a pro trade agenda further – for example, through establishing a pro trade Cabinet committee, undertaking a \u2018trade first\u2019 review of regulation and looking at transformational initiatives to boost the benefits of trade like Free Ports.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The British Ports Association (BPA), UK Major Ports Group (UKMPG) and Associated British Ports (ABP) have welcomed the UK Department for International Trade\u2019s new Export Strategy and highlighted the importance of ports to future trade opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}