Message to Southeast Asia: Britain means business

Southeast Asia is the UK’s eighth biggest export market, with 13.8 billion pounds (Bt759 billion) in exports per annum. That’s three times more than we export to Brazil, and twice what we export to India. As part of the government’s efforts to increase UK exports to 1 trillion pounds a year and to get 100,000 more UK companies exporting by 2020, the first trade trip of this parliament brought delegates from our Northern Powerhouse to a region forecast to grow at 5 per cent this year and with potential to unlock huge opportunities for jobs and growth in the UK.

More than 3,000 British businesses are already thriving in Southeast Asia, in every sector from advanced engineering, energy and healthcare to financial services, hi-tech and creative services. And it’s not just the big names such as Roll-Royce, HSBC and GSK that have put down roots here: nearly 25 per cent of UK firms active in the region are small to medium size businesses.

The advent of the Asean Economic Community will ease the way for the 10 member countries to work even more closely together. With a skilled workforce and a youthful population providing a strong foundation for future growth, the region is playing an increasingly prominent role on the world economic stage. 

That is why I came here with Prime Minister David Cameron and a large business delegation of more than 60 UK companies, including from the Northern Powerhouse of the UK. We want to grow our business with Southeast Asia by forging stronger bonds, creating trading partnerships and offering investment opportunities in the UK. That is also why we have embassies or high commissions in all 10 Asean countries and a UK ambassador to Asean based in Jakarta. The prime minister has also appointed a trade envoy specifically for the Asean Economic Community. Richard Graham MP will take on the role alongside his existing role as trade envoy to Indonesia. He joined the prime minister for talks with the Asean secretary general during this trip. And our focus is not just on economic powerhouses such as Indonesia – Lord Puttnam has been working as trade envoy since 2012 with the rising stars of Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, and the reopening last year of the Laos embassy in London means that all 10 Asean countries now have missions in the UK, and vice-versa.

One of the biggest challenges facing British businesses who want to operate in the region is protection of their intellectual property rights. During his visit the prime minister announced that the UK and Singapore have agreed an MoU to boost cooperation on this issue, providing greater reassurance for British companies who want to use Singapore as a springboard to the region.

The prime minister also announced the UK government will provide technical assistance to Southeast Asian countries as they implement the reforms set out in the Asean Economic Community agenda, and to facilitate infrastructure development in the region. We are working within the EU to support free-trade-agreement (FTA) negotiations with the region. The EU’s first FTA in Southeast Asia – with Singapore – has already been concluded, and we look forward to seeing it implemented. Negotiations with Vietnam are due to conclude soon and discussions with other countries in the region are under way. We hope these will eventually lead to an EU-Asean FTA, creating one of the biggest free trade areas in the world with combined GDP of over $20 trillion (Bt703 trillion), offering enormous economic benefits to people in Europe and all of the countries of Southeast Asia.

But our focus is not just economic. Science and innovation are at the heart of the UK’s long-term economic plan. We start from a strong position with world-leading research, world-class universities and some of the very best global talent, but we also recognise that the best science requires partnerships. Leading UK researchers and innovators are developing partnerships with Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to address key challenges such as improving healthcare and making urbanisation more sustainable. 

During this visit, we also agreed 500,000 pounds of joint funding through the UK & Singapore Innovation and Research Partnership to help small and medium-sized companies collaborate in the development and demonstration of technologies for smart cities. 

And the UK is working with countries across Southeast Asia to tackle critical climate change issues including how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, and how to shift our economies and energy systems onto a lower carbon pathway opening up new investment opportunities and innovative technologies. 

All of these partnerships will help build long-term collaborations with countries that will produce leading innovations in the future. Right now, there are more than 40,000 students from SE Asia studying in the UK, including 2,000 from Asean’s smallest member Brunei alone, and more than 140,000 students studying on UK programmes in Southeast Asia. 

In an increasingly global market place, the importance of the economies in Southeast Asia is set to grow. I am confident that we can build on last week’s visit to work even more closely with our Asean partners to help create jobs and growth for hardworking people in Southeast Asia and the UK.

 

Sajid Javid is UK secretary of state for business, innovation and skills.