Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council launches new trade platform in House of Commons to boost UK growth and international trade

A new business and trade platform designed to increase trade between the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth launched at the House of Commons recently.
The Maritime Connects Initiative is a new initiative developed by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, in partnership with business trade platform experts AMPP Group. It has been designed to bring companies from across the Commonwealth together on a members-only digital platform to form new business relationships and showcase their products and services across a global market.
The initiative has been established to help drive economic growth in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth’s 52 member countries, representing 1/3 of the world’s population and combined GDP of $10.4 trillion.
11,000 companies from across the Commonwealth and beyond, including Barclays Bank, UPS, and Tata Communications have already joined the initiative as Commercial Partners.
Speaking at the launch, Pierre Proner, CEO of AMPP Group, said: “11,000 businesses in the UK and around the world have already signed up to the Maritime Connects platform – I believe the Commonwealth can become a leader in the future of global trade.”
Ed Pickett, Digital Director at The Department for International Trade, commented: “Although we only officially launched today, we are already aware of 360 live opportunities for British companies to compete in the global maritime sector, through this platform.”
Sam Hoexter, Regional Head at UK Export Finance also added: “We already have a £50 billion facility to support UK business export initiatives, and with our focus on Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka and India, we find ourselves fully in line with the Maritime Connects initiative.”
Laurence Robertson MP said: “I am very excited about the potential for Maritime Connects to deliver genuine export opportunities for British companies.”
Robert Brant, VP & Board Member of the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce: “The Canada/UK trade agreements which are already in place provide a formula for agreements going forwards, and we envisage in a post-Brexit scenario the CETA agreements moving on to full bilateral trade agreements swiftly.”
The interactive business platform is designed to boost business-to-business trade between the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth by enabling companies to identify and network with potential new customers, suppliers and partners across key global industry sectors, including professional and financial services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail.
Members can take advantage of sophisticated business matching technology, which will automatically provide them with targeted business leads based on their user profile information.