The North East Chamber of Commerce plans a trade mission to Singapore in 2027. A senior civil servant told its lunch that firms must offer more than low cost.

The North East Chamber of Commerce is planning a trade mission to Singapore in 2027 for businesses in the region, including Northumberland firms looking for customers abroad. It set out the plan at its latest 1815 Lunch, where the most senior civil servant at the government’s business and trade department told the room that buyers now want more than the lowest price.

Overview

  • What: a North East Chamber of Commerce trade mission to Singapore, planned for 2027, to help firms in the region explore business there. The Chamber has not yet published dates or costs.
  • The advice: Amanda Brooks CB CBE, interim permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, told business leaders to know their supply chains, build in resilience, and keep going back to the markets they want to win.
  • Who it is aimed at: the sectors she named as the North East’s strengths are advanced manufacturing, clean energy, life sciences, technology and defence.

“We can’t just be driven by lowest cost”

The lunch was held during International Trade Week. Ms Brooks described the current global trading environment as among the most challenging of her career, pointing to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, growing protectionism and changing relationships with major trading partners, the Chamber said.

Her advice was to understand supply chains in detail, find where they are vulnerable, and weigh resilience, cyber security included, alongside cost and quality.

“We all do need to understand our supply chains and to think about the resilience that requires us to have,” she said. “And that requires us to make some difficult decisions. That means we can’t just be driven by lowest cost and quality.”

That shift is where she saw room for North East companies: specialist expertise, reliability, innovation and strong commercial relationships are things a buyer worried about security will pay for.

“The North East has so much to offer the rest of the UK, so much to offer the world,” she said. “It is on the people in this room, with our support, to make the most of those.”

Why Singapore, and why keep going back

Ms Brooks was previously the UK’s Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore, and she gave examples from that job of trade delegations, informal conversations and long-standing professional relationships opening doors that would otherwise stay shut.

“Even in a world of AI and technology, people and relationships still matter,” she said. “So make sure you’re working those networks.”

For a business thinking about selling overseas, her advice was to spend time understanding the target market and to visit more than once. “My advice is you need to go repeatedly to build the relationships, build the trust and the confidence in the people that you want to be partnering with,” she said.

The Chamber describes Singapore as one of Asia’s most dynamic and internationally connected economies.

What the Chamber offers exporters

Natasha McDonagh, president of the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: “Connecting businesses with global opportunities is a big part of what we do here at the Chamber.

“For more than 200 years, we’ve supported businesses to look beyond our region, seize opportunities in markets around the world and build relationships that underpin long-term success.

“Whether you’re a business taking your first steps into international markets or looking to strengthen an established global presence, our role is to turn your ambition into opportunity and opportunity into action.”

The Chamber says it represents around 1,800 organisations employing more than a third of the region’s workforce, and that through the British Chambers of Commerce network of 51 accredited UK chambers it reaches 75 global markets.

Delegates also discussed access to defence supply chains, public procurement, the opportunities from devolution, cyber security and barriers to international trade.

What it means for Northumberland businesses

  • If you make or engineer something, advanced manufacturing and defence were two of the five sectors Ms Brooks named, and resilience and reliability are the selling points she said buyers are now looking for.
  • If you work in clean energy, the county already has a cluster around Blyth, where the Budget put more than £85 million into the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and National Grid has said it is investing in the network for AI and data centres.
  • If you are considering the Singapore mission, the North East Chamber of Commerce runs it; dates and places have not been announced yet.

The 1815 Lunch series brings senior leaders from business and the wider community together. This one was supported by associate sponsor Newcastle College.

Sources