Business News President’s Focus
As Birmingham prepares to host the BritishAmerican Business network’s Transatlantic Conference for a second year, Professor Julian Beer, the president of the Greater Birmingham Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce, discusses the importance of future relationships with the United States. He also emphasises the West Midlands region’s key role in transatlantic policy-making.
our city. This is real testament to the strength and
I
leadership of our local chapter, the Greater Birmingham Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce, which continues to provide direct access to business leaders across North America, and which has seen membership growth of 15 per cent since last year’s event. From an institutional perspective, Birmingham
City and Aston Universities are proud to be co- hosting the event at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Conference Aston, tangibly underpinning our strategy to support West Midlands businesses to thrive in the global trading environment. As previous attendees may remember, the
theme of last year’s conference was ‘the Future of Transatlantic Trade’ which was set within the context of unprecedented opportunity to reshape our independent trading ambitions, and build on our already strong trading relationship with North America.
‘I still firmly believe that our relationship with the US post-Brexit will be crucial to the future trading success of UK businesses’
Although there is clearly still a great deal of
uncertainty about what the post-Brexit landscape will look like, I still firmly believe that our relationship with the US post-Brexit will be crucial to the future trading success of UK businesses. I was fascinated to read the newly-released BritishAmerican Business report ‘Time to Listen: Perspectives from Future Transatlantic Leaders’, which explored the views of UK students around what the future relationship between the USA and UK should look like. It is perhaps no surprise that technology, the
environment, climate change and security threats emerged as significant themes along with combatting global inequality and global public health. Celebrating our status as the youngest major
city in Europe, it is vital that we continue listening to our young people, and supporting their enthusiasm for transatlantic engagement. Also of note was the call from students participating in the study for a greater emphasis on engagement with regional audiences, and the diverse experiences they bring in influencing and informing policy-making discussions between London and Washington. I believe that this is a view-point that we
12 CHAMBERLINK June 2019
’m delighted that the BritishAmerican Business network’s annual Transatlantic Conference will once again be returning to
Greater Birmingham
Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce
should all support. With the current rate of regeneration in both Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, and the further potential that HS2 will bring, we are in a strong position to make our regional voice heard in the UK and overseas with the Transatlantic Chamber as an ideal vehicle for this. I very much look forward to once again
welcoming you to the annual Transatlantic Conference.
If you haven’t yet secured your place, or would like to find out more about how we work to promote trade and investment, then please contact a member of the team on
info@transatlantic-chamber.com or 0845 6036650.
• More transatlantic business news on page 30.
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