Business West, the organisation behind Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Bristol Initiative, will continue to be responsible for helping firms across the West of England to export after being awarded the contract to run the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) services in the region for another five years.
Business West, which has held the contract for the past seven years, said the continuity would enable it to build on its work to lift overseas trade in the region. 
While exports from the South West have been growing over recent years, the increase has been from a low base and the region remains the worst performer among English regions for doing business abroad.
Business West managing director Phil Smith said: “As holders of the contract over the last seven years, we have been remarkably successful in promoting international trade to thousands of businesses in the South West and we take enormous pride in winning the contract for another five years.
“This will enable Business West to continue to provide all the help a business needs to start up and grow at home and overseas.
“Successful export businesses achieve greater growth, more durability and higher profitability. We strongly encourage South West businesses to take advantage of growing global opportunities and to take up UKTI’s extensive services at each stage of the export journey.
“We are starting from a good position, with the Made in Britain label being seen across the globe as desirable – associated with quality. People are willing to spend their money on UK products and services, so if a business has been successful selling at home, there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t be successful selling overseas.
“Business West, as holder of the UKTI contract, is looking forward to capturing the imagination of businesses and continuing to encourage them to #GetExporting, – all the while assisting the government in its pledge to double UK exports to £1bn a year by 2020.”
UKTI regional director Russell Jones added: “Increasing exports is vital to the future success of the UK economy and I’m confident that by delivering support to exporters locally, through our International Trade Advisers and our extensive overseas network, we will help even more companies from the South West to realise their overseas business ambitions.”
Across the country UKTI helped a total of 47,960 businesses in 2013 to 2014 to export for the first time or find new markets through its extensive network of specialists in the UK and in British embassies around the world.
