SECTOR FOCUS: INTERNATIONAL TRADE


‘Above all,


listening and adapting to local overseas needs is imperative’


Chamber’s round-up from the BCC International Trade Summit


By Linda Middleton-Jones


Every autumn, the British Chambers of Commerce organise their flagship International Trade Summit. This year the underlying theme was on ‘Export Disruptors’. Usually this event is held in London, perhaps because of the subject matter this year BCC chose another location, this time in the Midlands, at the NEC Centre. I am a regular attendee and have


seen and heard from many top international brands and political advocates at previous events. This year however, for the first time, the


power and influence of SME’s as disruptors and leaders for international trade growth and development was recognised. The profound change to selling


overseas is coming of age, if a company has a good website then the actuality of that, is that they are on a global stage. And that ‘stage’ is driving sales for both proactive and reactive exporters. It became evident that SME's are taking risks that the larger enterprises (LE’s) are reticent or too unwieldy to take. For those with an appetite for international growth the routes to market remain in finding the right retailer through trade shows or


24 Chamber Profile November/December 2017


personal contact. Above all, listening and adapting to local overseas needs is imperative, growth should be based on pull rather than push. Of course, Brexit was a topic of


concern and discussion. A pragmatic view was put forward in that the worse-case scenario is that we revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. These are a set of rules that have been agreed, developed and improved into an international system of tariffs between nations. We in the UK hold the status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) that already confers with it an understanding that we will be


accorded favourable tariffs when trading with another national with MFN status. An interesting question was put


forward by the Australian High Commissioner to the UK, the Hon. Alexander Downer AC, when he asked ‘What sort of country do we want to be – a Free Trade and open trading nation or, one that negotiates Free trade bi-lateral or multi-national Agreements?’ I wonder how the disruptors would answer that?


Linda Middleton-Jones is a Devon Chamber of Commerce Director and International Trade Matters


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