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Dear Members and Friends,
As we move towards the summer break (if you’re taking yours already, I hope this newsletter is part of your holiday reading…), we here have had another very busy week at BEI. My own takeaway from this week’s events, on which more below, is that there is still a big gap between the UK’s export potential and the reality right now – but it’s a gap which we and our partners from Government and beyond working more closely together can help bridge, not least by demystifying procurement processes and access to finance. So I’m grateful this week to both ADB and UKEF for joining with us to offer their insights, which we will be following up over the coming months.
On Monday, some 150 British organisations spent a day with a delegation from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the theme of ‘Applying British Solutions to Asian Growth and Development’’. A big thank you to BEI member Arup for providing us with excellent hospitality at their impressive London offices. We were glad to have full-hearted UK Government support for the event, including a keynote speech from FCDO Minister Catherine West and a contribution by Rodney Berkeley, Director at DBT as well as from Shantanu Mitra, Alternate Executive Director for the UK at ADB. Members then heard from a senior and expert ADB team, led by Robert Schoellhammer, Advisor, Sectors Group, who set the tone by focusing on the strategies UK organisations need to adopt in order to increase their participation in ADB programmes. We then heard from senior ADB leads in agriculture, food, nature and rural development; digital; education and healthcare, as a prelude to smaller panels, breakout sessions and one-to-ones, ensuring that members had extensive opportunities to engage with the Bank on the detail. We are most grateful to the ADB delegation as well as all those who helped make the day so successful. The delegation has spent the week across the UK, demonstrating their commitment to working more with British expertise. We look forward to helping members take full advantage of the opportunities.
On Tuesday, we were joined online by senior colleagues from the Global Business Origination team at UK Export Finance (UKEF) for the first in a pair of region-focused sessions. Our speakers showcased innovative UKEF products, particularly those tailored for smaller organisations, and shed light on current pipelines and government strategy in key markets across the Africa and LATAC regions, ultimately with the goal of supporting the UK supply chain in overcoming market access barriers and achieving export wins. The second session, on the Asia and Middle East regions, will take place on Tuesday 16th September at 11:00 – 12:30 BST – registration will open for this in due course but please save the date.
Hard on the heels of that event, on Wednesday I was glad to have the opportunity to chair a session for a group of BEI members with Tim Reid, CEO of UK Export Finance. Tim gave a strong – and upbeat – summary of UKEF’s strategy: it’s one of the (few) parts of Government benefiting from an increase in resources to help deliver an ambition to grow UK exports. Members contributed to the discussion with concrete examples of where UKEF has supported projects around the world and with constructive suggestions on strengthening the relationship further. We agreed that there is unfinished business in terms of encouraging more UK companies to export and BEI will work with UKEF and partners to see where we can best contribute.
Before we break for the summer is a good time for me to thank the whole BEI team for all their work so far this year to put on an exhausting round of events as well as to support members individually on a wide range of challenges. In particular today I want to thank Luisa who, as many of you will already know, will be moving on in the coming weeks. Her contribution during her second stint with BEI, particularly in education and international development, has been outstanding and her impact has been felt from Kazakhstan to Vietnam and back to Grafton Street. We wish her all the very best for the future and look forward to announcing soon our plans for her work forward.
Looking forward to next week, on Tuesday 22nd July 11:00 – 13:30, we will welcome Ben Coleman MP, UK Trade Envoy to Morocco. This roundtable event will provide the Trade Envoy with the opportunity to engage with UK companies with an interest in Morocco and provide a platform for UK organisations to discuss taking advantage of opportunities and addressing barriers to entry.
On Wednesday 23 July 09:00 – 10:00, I’m looking forward to another in our series of “Meet the Ambassador” engagements, on this occasion online, with HE Marianne Young, British High Commissioner to Tanzania and HE Lisa Chesney MBE, British High Commissioner to Uganda. You can register here.
After the summer break, we will of course be in our new location One Birdcage Walk, where one of our first events will be a joint event with our sister organisation D Group, “Turning Water Risk into Resilience.” The event, delivered in partnership with the Global Summit series, will provide UK organisations with the strategies and insights needed to safeguard their operations and adapt to future water-related challenges. You can register here.
Finally, it was great to see many BEI members at the launch of The British Foreign Policy Group’s 2025 Annual Survey of UK Public Opinion on Foreign Policy and Global Affairs. The seventh iteration of the Survey which began in 2019 includes findings on the landscape of UK public opinion, from UK-US and UK-EU relations to spending on defence and international development, alongside some quite striking generational divides over foreign policy. Anyone involved in “abroad” should take a look. To read more, see the report, here.
With best wishes for the weekend ahead,
With best wishes for the weekend ahead,
David Landsman
Executive Chairman
British Expertise International
Recordings of recent past events:
- 5th June 2025: Intersection of Climate Change and Social Security
- 10th June 2025: International Finance Corporation (IFC): Working Upstream
- 10th June 2025: Public-Private Partnerships in the Philippines
- 19th June 2025: Navigating Risks and Opportunities in Ukraine
- 26th June 2025: Blended Finance as a Catalyst for Systems Change
- 5th July 2025: Meet UKEF - Africa & LATAC
Key events coming up include the following:
- 22nd July 2025 11:00 – 12:30 BST: Opportunities in Morocco – Meet the UK Trade Envoy to Morocco, Ben Coleman MP - Join us for an in-depth discussion with the UK Trade Envoy to Morocco, Ben Coleman MP. This roundtable event will provide the Trade Envoy with the opportunity to engage with UK companies with an interest in Morocco, and provide a platform for UK organisations to discuss opportunities and barriers to entry.
- 23rd July 2025 09:00 – 10:00 BST: Meet the Ambassador: Tanzania & Uganda - Join us from 09:00 - 10:00 BST on Wednesday 23rd July for a virtual event with H.E. Marianne Young, British High Commissioner to Tanzania & H.E. Lisa Chesney MBE, British High Commissioner to Uganda.
- 9th September 2025 14:30 – 16:00 BST: Turning Water Risk into Resilience - By bringing together key stakeholders who operate outside the regulated water sector yet face equally pressing water risks, this event, delivered in partnership with the Global Summit series, aims to provide UK organisations with the strategies and insights needed to safeguard their operations and adapt to future water-related challenges.
External Events and Reports:
- 25– 26th August 2025: World Women Entrepreneurs Forum (WWEF), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - The World Women Entrepreneurs Forum (WWEF) emerges in response to this urgent need—to not only celebrate the progress made, but to challenge the systems that limit it. Held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, under the theme Inspire, Impact, Invest, the Forum will serve as a global platform to uplift women entrepreneurs by fostering connection, capacity, and capital. It will bring together leaders, changemakers, investors, and advocates to co-create an ecosystem where womenled businesses thrive and transform economies.
- 3rd – 5th September 2025: KazBuild 2025, Kazakhstan: Stand booking is now open for international exhibitors at KazBuild exhibition in Kazakhstan - the largest international building and interiors exhibition in Kazakhstan, annually welcoming over 7,000 specialist trade visitors to the show. KazBuild will be held 3-5 September 2025 in Almaty, the biggest city of Kazakhstan. Held since 1994, the exhibition showcases the latest products, services, technologies, and projects available on the market, and provides a key platform for governmental and building industry professionals to exchange experiences, establish cooperation and share the latest industry developments. Please contact Mrs. Tatyana Borodikhina by email: tatyana.borodikhina@exhibitions-conferences.com to learn more about how KazBuild can help to establish your business in Kazakhstan.
- 27th September – 2nd October 2025 - Save the date for the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals 2025, set to take place in Singapore. This landmark event will be the 20th edition of the globally recognized science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programme’s World Finals and the first under its new branding, following the transition from its previous name, F1 in Schools. Developed to introduce students to STEM subjects through the creation of a miniature F1 car, STEM RACING (Formerly F1 in Schools) is an educational project designed for teachers, informed by engineers, and endorsed by F1.
- 28th – 31st October 2025: AME Trade - 15th edition of Africa PPP in Windhoek, Namibia - Africa PPP 2025 is the longest running infrastructure finance, investment, and partnership summit, focused on increasing private sector participation in infrastructure development through viable PPPs and innovative financing mechanisms, for a sustainable economic growth. The event is organized with the support of Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board and the Ministry of Works and Transport of Namibia at the prestigious Hilton Conference Centre in Windhoek, Namibia. Africa PPP includes two-days Conference, one day masterclass on Project Preparation and one day Touristic and/or Technical Tours.
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