A NEW export initiative from Trade Partners UK designed to help British companies gain a crucial foothold in the lucrative export markets of Western Europe has been launched.

The initiative will see firms from the North-East participate in a trade mission to Hamburg, Germany, in February next year.

The market Exporler programme will invite companies from across the UK to bid for a place on one of the fourteen trade visits being organised across the country in the first half of 2001 to target the export markets of Germany, France and Spain.

"This is about not just sitting waiting at home," said Foreign Office Minister John Battle.

"We intend to get out and be there and make things happen. We want to see British business succeed in overseas markets. This initiative is all about backing British business in practice and in depth.

"Market Explorer builds on the previous success of the Export Explorer programme which has seen more than 1000 companies catapulted into the markets of Benelux the Nordic countries and the Republic of Ireland.

The visits will establish key contacts for British firms seeking to develop their export capacity and link companies with potential customers in a market worth more than £43bn to the UK. North-Eastern firms have been successful in recent export ventures. An order from Iceland for a frozen softdrink called Polar Krush made by Northumbrian Ice Cream Co resulted in a £100,000 contract.

For details contact Mike Dennehy at Trade Partners UK on 020 7215 4795.