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NELEP partner with UKTI to support North East businesses

Two key business support organisations have teamed up to ensure companies across the North East are getting the best possible help to boost overseas sales.

North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) and Government export body UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) North East, have signed an agreement which sets out how the two organisations will work together.

They aim to combine forces to boost the region’s export performance, improving the turnover and profits of local businesses. This will support UKTI’s pledge to get an additional 100,000 UK firms exporting and increasing exports to £1 trillion by 2020.

Gill Southern, North East LEP board member and Commercial Director of Wessington Cryogenics; Guy Warrington, UKTI’s Director English Regions and David Coppock, North East Regional Director for UKTI, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during a ceremony at the Baltic, Gateshead.

The MOU sets out how the two organisations will increase their work together to deliver events, trade missions, export documentation, and provide support for small and mid-sized businesses.

Gill Southern said: “I wholeheartedly support this joint initiative between North East LEP and UKTI. The North East has a great record for exporting – it’s the only net exporting region in England and one of a small number of regions to experience export growth during 2014.

“Wessington Cryogenics has been a customer of UKTI for almost 30 years, taking advantage of its range of support services offered by embassies and the International Trade Advisers. UKTI has really helped formulate our strategies for moving our business forward overseas.”

Guy Warrington said: “We are delighted to partner with the North East LEP to develop a plan to further exporting from the North East. Through this partnership we hope to apply to the European Regional Development Fund to enable us to access up to £2m extra money in order to promote exporting opportunities for North East businesses.”

David Coppock added: “It’s my job to ensure that businesses across the North East have the capability and support they need to venture into overseas markets, and this partnership will provide businesses with even more specialist and targeted support.

“We already work closely with North East LEP but this agreement will helps us to formalise this partnership and help us further develop our ability to work together to increase the number of exporters and the number of companies working with UKTI to do so.”

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