Dominic Raab to urge firms to focus more on exporting outside EU

Business groups have stressed the importance of continued frictionless trade with the EU after Dominic Raab used his first overseas trip as foreign secretary to urge UK firms to “raise their game” and focus more on exporting to other regions.

Organisations including the CBI and Make UK, which represents the manufacturing sector, said that while British companies had already expanded to countries across the globe, exports to the EU accounted for almost half of the total.

Raab is due to join a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Bangkok on Wednesday to push for closer trade links with the 10-member bloc.

In comments released in advance, he said UK companies were not being sufficiently ambitious in targeting non-European markets: “For too long, our trade focus has been on Europe. We need to expand our horizons, and raise our game.

“That means grasping the enormous global opportunities for the UK – and my first trip as foreign secretary will look to strengthen our friendships across Asia.”

While Asean – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – has a combined population of 650 million, its bilateral trade with the EU is worth £36bn a year, just over 5% of the value of UK-EU commerce.

A CBI spokesman said post-Brexit it was vital that the UK seized “the many opportunities in rapidly growing markets across the globe”.

Source: The Guardian