Over the last three months, four members of the International Trade team (Mark Armitage, Alison Avery, Naomi Steemson and Gail Dendy de Santos) have visited Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania. Their objectives were to continue building stronger links with commercial sections of British Embassies, local Chambers of Commerce, visit local companies, gain a more in depth understanding of local commercial opportunities and then use this knowledge to support Herefordshire and Worcestershire businesses in taking advantage of these opportunities.
As noted previously in Business Direction magazine, Central and Eastern Europe has multi-sector opportunities across multiple countries. These four dynamic economies alone have over 80 million consumers, high GDP growth rates (e.g. Poland over 5%, Romania 4.3% and Czech Republic 3.2%) and are stable, safe and accessible EU markets being only 2-3 hours away from the UK using low cost air carriers.
British products and the British brands are recognised and appreciated for quality, tradition and style, with English widely spoken and used in international business. There are excellent opportunities for Herefordshire and Worcestershire businesses across a range of sectors with local distributors and end-users hungry for innovative, value-added British products and services – no wonder 19% of Midlands’s exporters reported growth in CEE sales in 2016.
To find out more, contact your local International Trade team on 01905 673 600