Extract from International Trade
questions
(Chelmsford) (Con):
What his priorities are for the GREAT campaign in 2019-20.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
International Trade (Graham Stuart): GREAT is the
Government’s most ambitious ever international marketing
campaign. [Interruption.] It encourages the world to visit, study
and do business in the UK. While Labour Members never lose an
opportunity to talk this country down—as the hon. Member for
Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has just done there—we use GREAT to sell
Britain abroad. If the chuntering from the potential future
Speaker could stop for one second, I will say that GREAT works
across 144 countries, and for trade and investment in 2019-20,
its priorities are the USA, Germany, China, Japan, Australia,
India, Canada, France, Italy and Spain.
Mr (Hertford and Stortford)
(Con): Three quarters of our economy is in services, yet
over 90% of service firms export nothing. What more can be done
to change this underlying culture and systemic issue, so that the
majority of service firms export?
The Minister for Trade Policy (George
Hollingbery): As I mentioned in answer to the previous
question, we are conducting a number of joint trade reviews with
India, China and Brazil—some of the largest economies in the
world—to ensure that we address some of these access barriers; to
ensure that, for example, Chinese-language contracts are
translated into an official English version; to ensure that
service providers understand what the rules and regulations are;
and to ensure that qualifications are matched across the piece.
There is a great deal we can do and more that we will do.
(Harrow East)
(Con): This afternoon the Confederation of Indian
Industry will host a major conference to allow the regions of the
United Kingdom to pitch to the states of India for future
international trade. What action is my hon. Friend taking to
encourage the regions to pitch for business in India? [910530]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
International Trade (Graham Stuart): According to an EY
report, foreign direct investment has tended to move out of
London into other parts of the United Kingdom, and there has been
an increase in manufacturing activity. We are seeking to expand
exports from all parts of the country, not least to India, and I
am delighted to say that exports to India were up by nearly 20%
in 2018. Only last night I attended the Grant Thornton tracker
event with Mr Banerjee, the director general of the Confederation
of Indian Industry, who is a great friend to this country and to
our businesses up and down the land.
Extract from Lords
debate on Brexit: Food Prices and Availability (EUC
Report)
(Lab):...The problems of soil salination, which arise
from the ill-advised use of irrigation in warm climates, have
severely diminished the agricultural output in many regions,
including the Indian Punjab, which has been described
as the Asian bread-basket. The global warming we are experiencing
has made inroads into the agriculture of tropical regions that
are becoming deserts. The rise in sea levels, which is the
consequence of the thermal expansion of water, threatens to
inundate low-lying river deltas, where much of the agricultural
output originates in the developing world. A one metre rise in
sea level will eliminate 30% of those low-lying croplands...
(CB):...My own
business supplies thousands of Indian and curry restaurants. An owner
in Wales, Ana Miah, the managing director of the Juboraj group of
restaurants in Cardiff, said that the value of the pound had
increased the cost of food products from abroad and that he was
concerned about the impact of no deal on the economy generally.
It is affecting every part of the industry...
...We will come to 31 October, but before that we have
council elections and EU elections; we have the Brexit Party and
Change UK; and we may have a Conservative Party leadership
election and a possible general election. I came back
from India last week, where everyone
said—whether government, business or citizen—“What is this great
country of yours doing? Why don’t you sort yourselves out?” We
can sort ourselves out very simply by putting it back to the
people and having another referendum with today’s electorate,
which will vote by over 60% to remain in the European Union. That
is the best option for all, including for farmers and food...
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