Trade Secretary: My top five priorities for trade
The Secretary of State's speech to the trade community on her top five priorities for trade, delivered at Lancaster House.
Welcome to Lancaster House.
What a spectacular setting. The sort of setting that makes me realise how lucky I am to do the job I do.
Lancaster House has been the venue for G7 meetings, the backdrop for royal TV adaptions and the location for numerous grand political speeches. The very best of the UK.
So it바카라 사이트™s only fitting that among our audience this evening we바카라 사이트™ve got Fever-Tree, who are now the number one premium mixer firm in the world.
Creative Nature CEO Julianne Ponan and Scanning Pens co-founder Jack Churchill, both honoured for their services to industry in the New Year바카라 사이트™s Honours바카라 사이트¦.
and Nestlé who have just officially opened their new £30m mineral water distribution facility in Buxton, Derbyshire.
I could carry on, but if I listed all the achievements of people in the room there wouldn바카라 사이트™t be any time left for my speech.
And also, I바카라 사이트™d rather talk to you than at you. So I will keep this brief.
The first part of my speech focuses on my priorities for the year ahead.
The second is about how I want to work with you to deliver them for the country.
When I was the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, it was my job to focus on economic growth. And I always felt that it needed its own department. That바카라 사이트™s why I am thrilled to be running DIT - which really is the 바카라 사이트바카라 사이트™s flagship economic growth department.
More importantly, the Prime Minister this month laid out his five priorities for the 바카라 사이트, the second of which was growing the economy.
Everything DIT does is about creating economic growth바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦whether it바카라 사이트™s supporting exporters바카라 사이트¦
securing foreign investment to create UK jobs바카라 사이트¦
or building the global security in trade 바카라 사이트“ working with old friends and new 바카라 사이트“ to help British businesses thrive.
In doing all that, we have an exciting vision to sell. Of a high-skill, high-tech economy with the capability to thrive in the modern world. And one that is finding the life sciences solutions for a healthier world.
So how are we going to deliver that economic growth; those opportunities; and the secure global trading environment that we need?
It바카라 사이트™s through these five priorities.
First, we will:
Remove trade barriers 바카라 사이트“ DIT will knock down 100 unnecessary blockers standing in the way of helping UK businesses sell more and grow more, creating new jobs and paying higher wages.
We have already made progress. Last year, we opened up the Chinese market to cosmetic companies who sell cruelty-free products 바카라 사이트“ that바카라 사이트™s a half a billion pound opportunity for British business.
Second, we will:
Grow UK exports every year until we hit our Race to a Trillion - selling over a trillion pounds of goods and services to the world a year by 2030.
There are, as I have said recently, and many times, a number of people who keep wanting to talk the UK down. Whatever you have read in papers today, the fact is that UK exports are growing 바카라 사이트“ and even to the EU.
You might not know that I am also the Secretary of State for UK Export Finance. It바카라 사이트™s great to see Tim Reid, the newly appointed CEO, here tonight.
In just five years UKEF has provided over £30 billion to help firms around the country export. And that money has a direct impact on lives 바카라 사이트“ supporting as many as 72,000 jobs.
Exports are currently at over £800 billion 바카라 사이트“ and that doesn바카라 사이트™t happen by accident. We set the challenge of accelerating the race to a trillion to push companies to export, creating more jobs and increasing wages, and that is why it바카라 사이트™s my second priority.
Third, we will:
Make the UK the undisputed top investment destination in Europe, attracting new investment into communities and helping to level-up the country.
The UK is a leading destination for foreign investment. However, this position is not a given. There is fierce global competition for every pound of finance.
I want to make the UK the most attractive place to invest in Europe, enticing companies from across the world to put their money into communities across the country.
Fourth, we will:
Seal high quality deals with India and CPTPP - they have a combined population of nearly 2 billion consumers - opening exciting opportunities in fast-growing markets for years to come.
That바카라 사이트™s essentially a quarter of the world바카라 사이트™s population in two huge deals, meaning companies such as Coventry-based driverless car manufacturer, Aurrigo, could benefit on its exports to huge markets in Vietnam and Japan.
But I want to be clear that just signing on the dotted line is not the objective. These deals will only be agreed if they are the right deals for the people of this country. Bringing in jobs and investment to left-behind communities and capitalising on those areas in which we specialise.
The fifth and final priority is to바카라 사이트¦
Defend free trade, and make the world more secure by strengthening supply chains and standing up to protectionism.
We are a trading nation at heart and by tradition. So we know that free trade is the surest way to prosperity that the world has.
So that바카라 사이트™s the pitch. I will be your biggest defender, your keenest saleswoman, and your proudest backer.
Because the success of business is the success of the British people 바카라 사이트“ more jobs, higher pay, and better lives.
Here바카라 사이트™s the catch 바카라 사이트“ I need your help to deliver it.
Some of you will know I was a software engineer and a systems analyst before I became a politician.
That means I바카라 사이트™m a problem solver at heart.
So when our Indian trade talks hit a bit of an impasse, I didn바카라 사이트™t pick up the phone, I got on a plane. That deal바카라 사이트™s not done yet, but it바카라 사이트™s back on track.
But to illustrate my point, think about something you use every day, when you open your emails, your WhatsApp, your text messages.
The QWERTY keyboard.
One of the greatest problem-solving inventions of all time and still going strong in its 150th year.
The layout was created because the technology of early typewriters couldn바카라 사이트™t cope with clusters of commonly-used keys being too close together.
Those keys became stuck and blocked 바카라 사이트“ the QWERTY layout unstuck and unblocked them.
That바카라 사이트™s what we need to do as we seek new export markets and drive international investment.
It바카라 사이트™s too easy for trade to become stuck and blocked. For well-meaning rules to become needless regulation.
But I can바카라 사이트™t solve your problems if I don바카라 사이트™t know what they are. I need to know which keys are sticking, which levers need pulling, which wheels need greasing.
So I need you to tell me the problems you face.
A Lancashire firm called VetPlus did just that. They came to DIT a little while ago and said they had a paperwork problem in selling their pet food products into India.
We fixed it. And the company now expects to do £1.5m of additional business over the next five years.
This is where my team comes in.
We have a new Permanent Secretary at DIT 바카라 사이트“ Gareth Davies. He joins Crawford in adding yet more knowledge and experience to the department바카라 사이트™s top team.
I also have a brilliant team of ministers바카라 사이트¦
Greg Hands, back in the department once again to help remove barriers and negotiate FTAs바카라 사이트¦
Andrew Bowie, our advocate for British exports바카라 사이트¦
Nigel Huddleston, bringing the FTAs we are negotiating into law and working to defend global free trade바카라 사이트¦
And Lord Johnson, banging the drum for investment into the UK.
Please come and talk to any one of us.
And if you바카라 사이트™re not getting the access to the department you need, let us know. If there are things we should be doing differently, do tell us.
I want DIT to be both a department of economic growth and business engagement. But business engagement with a purpose.
I wish I had enough time to meet with everyone, but I don바카라 사이트™t.
So instead I will say that the best meetings I바카라 사이트™ve had come with a purpose, an agenda and an objective.
That바카라 사이트™s how I work 바카라 사이트“ and it바카라 사이트™s not just my time that바카라 사이트™s precious but yours too.
If we get this relationship right I can be your problem-solver-in-chief.
I look forward to working with you all to deliver for UK PLC..
Thank you.