Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown questions the Government about progress on rolling over our existing free trade agreements with the EU.
Export Strategy
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)
8. What recent progress the Government has made on implementing its Export Strategy. [911902]
The Minister for Trade Policy (George Hollingbery)
This summer marks three years since the DIT was established and one year since the publication of the Department’s export strategy, which sets out how the Government will encourage, inform, connect and finance UK businesses to take advantage of the international demand for British goods and services. Last month, we announced a new package of financial support from UK Export Finance to help businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, to do just that.
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Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
We have already heard that our trade agreements with the EU amount to about 11% of our trade, which is significant. Will my hon. Friend update the House on where he expects to have got with rolling over all the existing trade agreements by the time we are able to make our own independent trade policy?
George Hollingbery
Since the Department’s formation three years ago, the DIT has grown its trade negotiating capability from a standing start to a fully trained core of specialists. That has allowed us to negotiate the transition of EU free trade agreements, representing almost two thirds of trade covered by these agreements, and we continue to work intensively on the balance.