Asked by: Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many trade missions were undertaken by ministers in 2017; and what was the destination of each mission.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The Department for International Trade undertook 139 trade missions outside of the United Kingdom in 2017, in 43 countries as follows:
Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ethiopia, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Of these missions, eight were supported by the Department’s Ministers, in eight countries as follows:
Ethiopia, Uganda (Secretary of State for International Trade, Rt Hon Liam Fox)
China (Minister of State for Trade & Export Promotion, Baroness Fairhead)
Spain, United States (Minister of State for Trade Policy, Rt. Hon Greg Hands)
France, Germany, India (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Investment, Mark Garnier)