UK exports to the Far East are the focus of a UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) initiative designed to promote trade to major growing economies in Asia.

UKTI’s Asia task force held a conference in partnership with RBS for UK businesspeople to highlight the growing possibilities and opportunities for exporting to the region and to discuss any potential difficulties that may arise in dealing with Asia.

“There is a huge knowledge barrier in preventing many smaller and medium-sized companies from taking full advantage of international opportunities,” notes Brian Stevenson, chairman of RBS’s global transaction services.

The gap in information is something that needs to be plugged, according to Lord Charles Powell, co-chair of the Asia task force, as the growth in Asia is not a short-term situation: “Growth in Asia is not just a temporary phenomenon,” Powell stated to around 150 delegates at the conference.

“We really are entering a new world with the balance of economic power shifting into Asia.”

“We really are entering a new world with the balance of economic power shifting into Asia.”

While India and China are the main target markets for UK exporters, research published by RBS and RBS-owned UK bank Natwest has revealed that the focus is beginning to shift towards South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.
“The numbers of exports from the UK to Indonesia and South Korea are quite small so the percentage growth could potentially be quite big. They are not on the same scale as India or China and if you take Indonesia, that is in part due to the fact that there is not a manufacturing base like China,” Stevenson at RBS continues to GTR.

“However there is a developing middle class in Indonesia and it’s a country that we see there is a lot more potential around,” he adds.