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Export help for small firms

Nov 21 2001

Small firms with little experience of exporting are to be given a helping hand through a £2.3 million pilot initiative. This has been organised by Government body Trade Partners UK.

Trade Partners UK: Your Passport to Export Success will provide more than 500 fresh exporters across the nine English regions with the practical skills needed to find and develop new markets overseas. An experienced export adviser will assist each company in choosing the most appropriate course of action for them.

The package of measures includes a free export health check and an individual export plan. Firms will also obtain free sales leads from companies overseas looking to buy a prospective exporter's products. In addition companies can get services and tailored research on the country they want to start exporting to.

Aftercare service will also be available under the scheme. This will help companies continue their successful growth. Also firms may receive as much as £3,000, payable in kind, towards the cost of translating technical materials, language training and web design. In total, each company stands to benefit from up to £5,000 worth of services under the programme.

The Trade Partners UK International Trade teams located at the 45 Business Links across the country will deliver the programme. The International Trade Advisors will decide in partnership with each prospective exporter "whether they are ready to exploit the measures available to them," states Trade Partners UK.

Announcing the initiative Baroness Symons, the minister for international trade, said that many businesses in the UK spur economic growth by seeking new opportunities overseas. She added that the programme reflected what enterprises want saying the scheme was "about what local businesses have said they needed…."

For further information on the scheme contact the Trade Partners UK International Trade team at your local Business Link. To find your local Business Link, visit www.businesslink.org or ring the Business Link contact centre on 0845-600 9006.

With thanks to Lloyds TSB Success4Business. For more news and information visit www.success4business.com.

(19/11/01)

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