Trade Missions (Hansard, 13 April 1994)

§ 8. Mr. Gallie
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the countries in the far east to which it is planned to send trade missions supported by his Department.

§ Mr. Needham
There are currently plans for six ministerial visits to the far east, including trade missions, in the remainder of the year. On present plans, I hope that on those missions I will visit Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and China.

§ Mr. Gallie
Will my hon. Friend accept my appreciation of the recent support that he has given to the Jetstream aircraft in my constituency? Is he aware that Jetstream has recently established a spares department in Singapore to service an increasing fleet? Will he ensure that on future trade missions Jetstream aircraft will be promoted as first-class aircraft and that the back-up services will also be promoted as first-class services?

§ Mr. Needham
I am only too delighted—I am sure that I also speak for my right hon. and hon. Friends—that any mission that we take to the far east should include companies from my hon. Friend's constituency. I also extend that invitation an all hon. Members. If there are companies in their constituencies which they think can export successfully to the far east, we should be only too delighted to include them. As a result of the missions that we have undertaken over the past two years, sales to Singapore were up some 30 per cent. in 1993 on 1992 and some 30 per cent. in the first three months of this year. That is true throughout the whole of the far east and I am sure that that will continue to be the case.

§ Mr. Bell
With due respect, the House welcomes the Minister's globe-trotting activities, but in response to the question of my hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Grocott) is it not a fact that our world trade has steadied while that of France has increased? On his missions abroad, does the Minister think that our embassy and high commission staff are sufficient for the job or do we need more? Are we sure that the dead hand of the Treasury is not lying across our exports? What can the Minister do to ensure that there is a level playing field for the British when dealing with the French, the Germans and the Americans and not a tilted playing field?

§ Mr. Needham
Our strategy, which has developed over the past two years, gives us a business plan in each of the major markets of the world and these are supported by the posts overseas. We discuss staffing levels through the joint export promotion directorate, and at present I have no indication from it that we are below strength or below the plans that we have set out. We are showing British industry —I am glad that we have its support—that we are giving it as good a service as that received by any company in any country anywhere in the developed world.