- UK Trade Minister attends one of Europe's premier economic
forums to champion UK leadership in digital trade
- Visit reinforces shared ambition to drive economic growth as
outlined in PM treaty signed in July
- Businesses invited to join digital trade pilots that will
make it quicker and easier to trade
British businesses and the UK's leadership in digital trade will
be championed by Trade Minister at a global business meeting
in Germany today [Thursday 23 October].
The Berlin Global Dialogue convenes heads of state, global CEOs
and academic leaders, providing a key platform to promote the
UK's Trade and Industrial Strategies on the world stage.
The Minister will use the visit to enhance UK-Germany economic
ties, building on our already £150bn trade partnership as well as
the UK-Germany Kensington Treaty signed in July by the Prime
Minister and Chancellor Merz, an ambitious agenda for our
countries to drive growth together.
British businesses are also set to benefit from quicker and
cheaper trade with Germany under a new paperless initiative – the
Digital Trade Corridors programme. This industry-led scheme is a
multi-year initiative under the Government's Trade Strategy,
starting with a set of pilots for businesses trading with Germany
and France – two of our most important European partners.
As our second-largest trading partner, Germany is a natural
starting point given the scale of our trade flows – over
£100 billion of goods a year – and our complementary legal
frameworks. The programme will demonstrate how greater use of
innovation can make trade faster and more efficient for our
companies.
Trade Minister said:
Our Trade Strategy is clear: make trade faster, cheaper and
simpler.
The Digital Trade Corridors programme does exactly that, cutting
costs, speeding up deliveries and opening new markets for UK
businesses. It's about driving growth and putting money back in
people's pockets.
The pilots are now open for businesses to sign up and will
commence in the new year, trialling electronic trade documents
(ETDs) to replace time-consuming, paper-based processes such as
invoices, packing lists and bills of lading. For businesses, that
means less admin, fewer delays and more time to focus on growth.
It could also mean cheaper exports and faster delivery given
recent UK-backed pilots cut costs for businesses by up to 25%,
sped up shipments by 40% and increased productivity by 67%.
While in Berlin, the Minister will also meet German State
Secretary Thomas Steffen to discuss deepening economic ties and
our common projects under the Kensington Treaty.
Notes to editors
- For more information on the Digital Trade Corridors pilot and
to sign up, click here.
The pilot will take approximately 8-12 weeks from the point at
which businesses are selected. Deadline for applications is
11:45PM Friday 21 November.
