Target overseas markets

Sep 9 2009 By The Journal

A CAMPAIGN is urging businesses in the region to target overseas markets to help bring economic growth back to the North East.

The Journal has teamed up with the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) to launch Go Global, which aims to encourage North East firms to export more of their goods and services.

According to the NECC, the region’s economic recovery from the current recession will be a slow process unless companies look beyond North East shores for new opportunities.

While the North East’s positive trade balance has survived the economic downturn, the number of companies actually exporting their goods remains relatively low.

The Go Global campaign aims to eliminate the fear associated with expanding overseas and also make firms aware of the vast resources of expert help available when targeting foreign markets.

NECC chief executive James Ramsbotham said: "It is an irony of the global recession that the way we will return to economic growth is via global trade. We face a road to recovery that will be slow and hard unless we look beyond our shores for new opportunities.

"Businesses will struggle to grow with any great speed if they rely solely on organic growth in the UK and it is those companies that seek out new markets that will prosper the most.

"Ultimately, we want to help more and more companies to find increasing numbers of customers worldwide to set the North East economy back on a fast track to success."