Partner Article

Eastern promise for North East firms

NORTH East firms are being offered the chance to explore the promise of £4bn worth of business opportunities in Asia.

As part of its programme of Market Visits, UKTI will be taking a delegation from the region to South Korea and Japan in February and will visit the capital cities of Seoul and Tokyo.

Jeff Thompson, one of UKTI’s International Trade Advisers, who will accompany the Market Visit, said: “There is a wealth of opportunities in both South Korea and Japan and we’re keen to help the region’s companies exploit them.

“South Korea is often thought of as a difficult market, but it really is worth the effort. It is the fourth largest market in Asia and was one of only three OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries not to go into recession during the recent downturn.”

Japan is also thought to offer a wealth of opportunities and is already the UK’s largest export market after Europe and the USA.

The total value of goods exported to Japan in 2009 was around £3.68 billion.

Mr Thompson added: “Our new services will provide match funding to SMEs to travel to overseas markets, attend overseas trade fairs and assistance to identify the best route into a market.

“There will also be match funding support with costs such as international web design, translations and localisation of promotion materials.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .