UK and North Carolina State hold inaugural Working Group meeting

24 Jan 2023 10:43 PM

First North Carolina Working Group meeting under the UK-North Carolina trade MoU takes place in Raleigh

On Tuesday, January 24, 2023, the UK and State of North Carolina held the first government-to-government working group meeting under the UK-North Carolina Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on economic cooperation and trade relations, in Raleigh.

Colin Gray, Deputy Consul General for the United Kingdom in Atlanta, and Machelle Baker Sanders, Secretary of Commerce for the State of North Carolina, co-chaired the meeting, attended by officials from the respective governments.

The group acknowledged the early progress made across a range of economic and cultural areas since the MoU’s signature in July 2022. Activity to date has included:

• Cooperation in sectors related to green trade, a key theme of the MOU, such as sharing expertise and methods for the development of offshore wind infrastructure;
• The promotion of trade and investment opportunities to SMEs between North Carolina and the UK; and
• The advancement of opportunities for women through new commercial partnerships, including within the sports economy.

The working group discussed and identified further opportunities to advance cooperation in the coming months. Key areas of joint working will include:

• Continuing the emphasis on offshore wind through a focus on supply chain development;

• Exchanging information on procurement processes, including opportunities related to electric vehicles charging, and associated infrastructure;

• Exploring how innovation in motorsports can lead to developments in energy efficiency, and examining how these developments can apply to the wider automotive sector;

• Exploring how UK companies can best support North Carolina’s EV ambitions of being at the front of the global market transition to zero-emission vans, buses and trucks; and

• Furthering the collaboration between world leading academic institutions in the UK and North Carolina.

Both sides agreed to expand the next working group session to involve representatives from industry and academia to be held later this year in the UK.