International traders have called on the British government to step up its efforts towards international trade or face losing out to European rivals.
Those that gathered at the one of the first World Trade Week UK events, organised by UK trade facilitation agency SITPRO, warned that if UK government, ports, and businesses don’t work together to improve systems functionality, businesses may choose to locate their operations elsewhere.
The message reinforced concerns highlighted by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, which in 2009 ranked the UK 28th for ease of trading across borders behind many European counterparts.
The recent cross-government initiative to examine the cost of international trade regulation to business, which was announced in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report, was seen by the businesses at the meeting as a positive step towards the improvements that they desire.
