Business leaders venture to Porto to strengthen trade links with West Midlands
BUSINESS leaders have strengthened trading links between Birmingham and Porto to mark the opening of a new flight service between the two cities.
Flybe, which is operating the services, flew a group of prominent West Midland business leaders to the Portuguese city for a three-day fact-finding mission to explore new trade opportunities.
Accompanying Paul Willoughby, Flybe’s Regional Sales Manager on the trip was Peter Mathews, managing director of Black Country Metals and a UKTI Export Ambassador); Paul Noon, Regional Director West Midlands UK Trade & Industry and Jason Wouhra, Director of East End Foods and Regional Chairman West Midlands Institute of Directors. Representatives from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Birmingham Airport also attended.
As well as holding individual business meetings, the group held talks with UKTI Lisbon, the Mayor of Porto’s office, the British Portuguese and Porto Chambers of Commerce and AEP’s Business Services, Portugal’s equivalent of the UKTI.
Willoughby said the new service emphasised Flybe’s commitment to supporting the UK’s regional economies.
“We realise the importance of maintaining and developing easy and affordable connections between key cities. We were absolutely delighted to have received the support from such high level and well-connected Birmingham and Porto business leaders. Their response was fantastic and I think everyone agrees that it was a hugely successful and worthwhile trip for all concerned,” he said.
Porto has many synergies with Birmingham, not least because it is the second largest metropolitan area of Portugal and is considered the economic powerhouse of the country. A large part of the Portuguese research capacity is based there and the region boasts significant industries including the production of shoes, furniture, textile, cork and of course port wine, as well as the mechanical industry. There are also a number of tech hubs near to Porto, which reflect the entrepreneurial characteristics of the region.
Peter Mathews said: “Portugal is an established ally and there is a wish on both sides to expand unilateral business. With today’s global market and its competition, the opportunity to expand our links with Northern Portugal can only be bettered by good communications such as Flybe offers through its direct flights from Birmingham.”
Jason Wouhra added: “This fact-finding mission reaffirmed the importance of actually travelling out to new and existing markets and meeting with business counterparts. The information that can be made available by UKTI staff and other business organisations ‘on the ground’ and ‘in the know’ can only save time and add that extra initial boost to new business opportunities.”
The new Birmingham Airport service operates year-round, with a choice of up to four flights a week.
