Message From The Chair
As this is the final Chair¡¯s Message of the year I hope you will indulge me and allow me to spend some time saying some very big thank yous. Firstly thank you to you, our members, to all of you who have contributed to the debates, the events, and to the overall continued success of the MWTF. At a time when every minute is precious, your continued contribution is valued immensely. Secondly, but by no means least, I would like to thank the MWTF Board, Peter Mathews, our President, Glenis Poletti our Executive Director, and all our supporters within UKTI.
This past year has not been easy and for some it has been devastating, but one thing is resoundingly clear, that whilst the media may want to revel in disaster, and the politicians are busy putting their own personal finances in order, UK businesses have continued to look at new ways of doing things, continued to look for new opportunities, continued to look for new markets, continued to challenge. The simple truth is that when you are so far down the road, there is only one way to go and that is forward.
In truth there is only one group that will get us out of this recession and that is the business community. So let me make it plain to our current Government and to those who may be to come, if you don¡¯t listen to the voice of business you do so at your peril. We are looking for a government that bases its decisions on an ethos of integrity and transparency, and a government that is not only going to listen but will take action on behalf of the people that have elected them.
Over the past year MWTF has lobbied hard on issues surrounding export credit insurance, the need for greater transparency regarding funding initiatives and the availability of capital funding, to name but a few. Moving forward we will continue to push on these and any other issues that you feel are key in ensuring that economic recovery is not only sustainable, but which will see the UK taking its rightful place as a global lead in international trade.
Again, I thank you all for your support and commit to ensuring that your voices are heard by those who have a responsibility to listen to them.
Deborah Leary OBE
MWTF Chair
Changes to Cross-border VAT rules represent a significant reform of the VAT regime applying to services and introduce important changes to the intra-EU reporting regime for goods.
These changes will modernise and simplify the rules relating to cross-border supplies of services, make the recovery of VAT on purchases made in other EU countries
more efficient and help to counter VAT fraud. To comply with the new rules, businesses will need to make fundamental changes to their current VAT accounting and reporting processes in order to be ready for 1 January 2010.
To find out about these impending changes click here to read a summary compiled by Enterprise Europe Network.
communicate with your overseas customers can
be invaluable. Combine this with a basic knowledge of the local business etiquette and you will undoubtedly make a good first impression. The Regional Languages Network (RLN) stresses the benefits of improving these skills - click here to read.
With their Business Language Champions campaign RLN is looking for business people, who can help to promote the uptake of language in schools.
If you use languages at work we'd love to hear from you - please click here
Networking is more important now than ever and it remains a key part of the MWTF¡¯s ethos. We want our members to come together to improve their international trade potential by learning from each other¡¯s experiences.
But that¡¯s only part of the story, because although getting our members to work together is important, it is just as vital that we get our message out to businesses right across the West Midlands.
That¡¯s why we¡¯re looking for people to become MWTF Ambassadors, who will promote more interaction by businesses in the West Midlands for the mutual benefit of us all. We are planning to launch this initiative at our AGM in January and in the meantime we¡¯d be pleased to hear from you if you¡¯d like to become involved.
Click here to read more
Following our recent report on this issue we gave exporters another opportunity to have their say, about the increased burden of Export Credit Insurance, at a Q & A session on 1st October. The panel included Adrian Bailey MP, who sits on the Exporting out of Recession Select Committee and Steve Dodgson, Business Group Director of ECGD.
Delegates were highly critical of the approach, taken by all the main insurers, of completely removing cover without any regard to previous trading history.One MWTF member, whose export business represents 70% of his total turnover, was one of the main ones to speak out and immediately after the event put pen to paper to summarise the main problems and list his own recommendations. With his permission, we have used this to lobby further. Click here to read the full report.
Despite a very challenging operating environment, eg solutions plc - the Staffordshire based operations management software applications vendor - has achieved significant overseas success in 2009.
Markets as far apart as South Africa, India, the Nordics and the Netherlands are all territories where the company has made significant progress this year.
To read the full eg solutions story click here
New Members
9 companies have joined the Forum since our last newsletter. Amongst these are two new Service Provider members Bibby Factors International Limited and George Green LLP, who bring specialist expertise to assist companies developing their international trade.
Click Here for a full Who`s Who ...
Thank you for taking the time to read our latest newsletter - if you have any comments or contributions please
let me know
Glenis PolettiMake International Trade Work For You
In This Issue
Changes to VAT rules for intra-EU trade
Languages in business
Could you be an
MWTF Ambassador?
Export Credit Insurance - update
Member Profile:
eg solutions plc
Interested in joining the MWTF board?
Click here to find out more
New Members
Events
&
Market Visits
Two of the events taking place in the near future are featured below.
For a full list of regional activities click here
Doing Business in Asia
This major event comes to Birmingham on 4 December.
It presents an opportunity to hear from experts on all the major markets in SE Asia
More Info ...
Advanced Engineering Roadshow
What government is doing to help business during the economic downturn
11 November
Birmingham City Football Club
More Info ...
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West Midlands Chambers
of
CommerceMidlands World
Trade Forum
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T: 0121 607 1759
F: 0121 607 0130
www.mwtf.org.uk
g.poletti@mwtf.org.uk
© 2009 Midlands World Trade Forum - All Rights Reserved
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