The Chamberlain News

Midlands Engine fires up with trade mission to North America

Businesses across the Midlands are being urged to join a Government trade mission to North America.

The trip is being organised by the Department for International Trade and will be led by Midlands Engine, a partnership of councils and local enterprise partnerships.

The five-day trip starts on September 18 and will focus on the automotive, manufacturing and aerospace sectors. The visit will take in the American cities of Detroit and Chicago, and Toronto in Canada.

The visit is the first in a series that was announced by the Government at the Midlands Engine Business Summit last month.

Businesses joining the trip are being promised one-to-one meetings with potential distributors, with trade advisers on hand to ensure each delegate is able to accomplish the maximum from their time, while also helping to raise the profile of the region overseas.

Christine Hamilton, interim regional director for the West Midlands, said:

This market visit provides a potentially invaluable platform for enterprising firms across the West Midlands in these three sectors to make significant progress in expanding their reach to the US and Canada, two of the most exciting markets in the world.

The Midlands Engine exports more goods than any other English region – but we cannot afford to be complacent. Our region is full of talented companies that the world wants to do businesses with and through the Exporting is GREAT campaign and market visits such as this we want to raise the profile of the West Midlands and get many more companies exporting.