§ 20. Mr. PawseyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the countries to which it is planned to send trade missions supported by his Department.
§ Mr. NeedhamWorldwide, more than 20 ministerial visits involving trade missions are planned in the remainder of the year.
On present plans, I intend to visit Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela.
§ Mr. PawseyClearly, my hon. Friend will be a very busy and much-travelled man. May I congratulate the Department on the emphasis placed on overseas trade missions? What is the Department's budget for such missions and what emphasis is placed by it on promoting the export of engineering products?
§ Mr. NeedhamThe budget for the provision of support for missions is some £1.7 million a year. But the key point is that, with the support of our 75 export promoters, we now have market plans for each of the major 80 markets in the world. In addition, we have a plan in each sector, which in almost every country includes engineering products. We are determined to provide a peerless and first-class service to our engineering companies exporting overseas—a service that rivals anything available in Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United States, or anywhere else.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursWhen Ministers and trade missions are abroad will they let it be known to officials of foreign Governments and to business men that in Workington there is a 500,000 sq ft modern factory site, formerly occupied by Leyland National for the manufacture of buses, but now empty? That site is available for inward investment. Will the hon. Gentleman push the factory's availability? We need a new tenant or acquisition by another company.
§ Mr. NeedhamI should be delighted to do what the hon. Member suggests. I should be even more delighted if he were to accompany me. We could go selling as we used to do 30 years ago.
§ Mr. MansBearing in mind the fact that many previous trade missions have resulted in billions of pounds' worth of aircraft exports, resulting in the creation of many jobs in this country, will my hon. Friend welcome the first flight of the Eurofighter and will he liaise with the Ministry of Defence with a view to setting up a trade mission to sell this aircraft abroad?
§ Mr. NeedhamI have listened to my hon. Friend, and I am sure that the answer is yes.