“Potentially lucrative trading links”
Highlands and Islands businesses with interests as diverse as forestry, manufacturing, marine science, fine foods and textiles are taking advantage of an opportunity to meet with trade specialists from the Nordic region.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is hosting the fact finding opportunity in an effort to develop further potentially lucrative trading links with our Scandinavian and other northerly neighbours.
In partnership with Scottish Development International (SDI), the UK Trade and Investments Nordic team will be in Inverness on Wednesday 17 March. They will give an overview of their region, with its population of 25 million people, and will then offer individual meetings to discuss each business’ specific needs. Businesses of any size who are interested in applying should contact HIE before Wednesday 10 March.
“Excellent trading opportunity”
“There are long standing cultural and trade links with the Nordic region. The Highlands and Islands share a number of business interests and their close proximity and good transport links make them an excellent trading opportunity,” said Norma MacDonald, HIE’s senior development officer with the international team.
One businesswoman already signed up is Helen Lockhart from Assynt, in North Sutherland. She has been running her creative textiles company, Ripples Crafts, since 2008. She is keen to see if there is an opportunity to supply her hand dyed yarns and knitting kits to Scandinavia, which has a strong traditional knitting culture.
“This is a fact finding trip for me. I have had some success in exporting to America and Europe and am interested to see if there is a market for my unique yarns either to hand knitting pattern designers, wool shops or to distributors.”
Two members of the business team from the internationally renowned marine research institute, the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) based in Oban, are to meet with the Nordic team.
“Identify emerging business opportunities”
“Our core business activities span several market sectors including renewable energy, biofuel R&D, mining, and marine technologies. In these areas, SAMS provides commercial services on a global scale, however, we have had little involvement in the Nordic Region. At this event, we are keen to identify emerging business opportunities as well as build new collaborations within our existing markets,” said Dr Keri Page.
Traditional music publishing business, Taigh na Teud, based in Skye is hoping to gain advice on ways to grow opportunities for cultural exchange. Christine Martin researches, collects and collates traditional tunes in original music books, and has been running the business for 25 years. She commented:
“There is a strong link between Scandinavian music and Scottish music, and the Nordic countries enjoy a very strong fiddling culture. I already have some links with clubs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and am interested in exploring whether there is a market to promote Scottish music through shops and publishers, with a reciprocal arrangement here.”
Any local business interested should contact Norma MacDonald at HIE in Inverness 01463 244478 for an application or download an application form from http://www.hie.co.uk/Nordic-awareness-event.htm
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