§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress made by his Department's Joint Environmental Markets Unit in securing sales of British green technologies and services abroad. [137873]
§ Ms HewittThe Joint Environmental Market Unit's (JEMU's) role—working with others such as Trade Partners UK—is to promote the UK's environmental industry's capabilities and to help provide market access to relevant suppliers. JEMU has made good progress in implementing specific initiatives identified in its three year Business Plan, published in 1998. A key achievement has been the development of the first online database of UK environmental capabilities, providing a world wide shop window which enables companies to be contacted directly from one site. Representatives of the UK environmental industry have recently acknowledged JEMU's contribution to trade promotion as being relevant and effective.