Final call for North East exporters
Small and medium-sized businesses in the region still have time to enter UK Trade & Investment's (UKTI) Exporting for Growth Prize.
The deadline for the competition has been extended to 31 January 2012. It aims to encourage more businesses to export by offering a comprehensive package of support to the company with the best new export idea.
The overall North East winner will receive UKTI support worth £5,000 and three grants for overseas travel to their target markets, plus business knowledge and insight from sponsor companies HSBC and PwC.
David Coppock, UKTI's regional director in the North East, said: "The North East's future prosperity will not come from domestic markets alone. Across the world there are markets that are showing strong, long-term growth. We want to make sure that UK firms are not just trading abroad but thriving there."
He added: "The latest figures show that the North East's exports over the last 12 months reached a record total of £13.211bn – a 16 per cent increase on the 12 months previously compared with the national growth of just under 14 per cent. This is great news for the North East – but the figures in 2012 can be even better."
