Question reference: S5W-06564
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 25 January 2017
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 February 2017
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of Scotland's trade with (a) Australia, (b) New Zealand, (c) Canada and (d) the rest of the Commonwealth, and what consideration it has given to improving these links.
Answer
The Scottish Government produce estimates of international exports in the Export Statistics Scotland publication. The latest figures, for 2015, show Scottish exports to Australia were worth £555 million; to New Zealand were worth £55 million; to Canada were worth £470 million; and to the rest of the Commonwealth were worth £1.7 billion.
The Scottish Government continues to prioritise improving trade links with a number of potential markets. As highlighted in the Scottish Government’s Trade and Investment strategy, Scotland’s export base needs to broaden beyond EU markets and Scottish Development International works closely with a range of overseas partners to identify and deliver international opportunities in growth sectors and growth markets. SDI has a network of global field offices, with over 100 sales professionals promoting Scotland across the world. Since 2012, SDI has opened new offices in Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Canada, Brazil, China and India.
Canada is one of the Scottish Government’s priority countries and on 23 December 2016 we published a refreshed Engagement Strategy which reflects some of Canada’s priorities, matched with Scotland’s expertise and interests.