WBD is supporting a UK trade mission traveling this week to Boston, Massachusetts to help businesses from the North of England explore opportunities for growth and collaboration. The delegation includes over 25 organizations from across the Northern Powerhouse led by Department for International Trade. The mission, now in its fifth year, coincides with the visit of an Invest Newcastle delegation jointly led by Newcastle University’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) and Newcastle City Council  with a focus on the UK North East’s expertise in ageing, nutrition, digital, science and technology with the aim of building strategic partnerships in the US. WBD hosted a pre-mission briefing in its offices in Newcastle, delivering advice and guidance to delegates on the key legal and practical considerations that businesses from our region should address when doing business in the US. 

Soon after our Boston office opened in 2017, we hosted a dinner in Boston for the delegates on last year's UK trade mission, and we will be hosting a reception for the much larger delegation this year.    

Tracy Walsh, UK Head of Life Sciences at WBD and a partner in our Newcastle office will represent the UK side of the firm in the US during the trade mission. She comments:

"We are delighted to be working together with our colleagues in our Boston office to support the mission's objectives of facilitating collaboration and delivering investment and innovations that will have a greater impact on our local economy. The opportunities presented by the US for businesses from Newcastle and across the North of England are vast. The Boston WBD office opened just over a year ago, and is such a success story, with a growing team and stronger relationships with new and existing clients in the market. We would be delighted to see similar success for the delegates, by building strategic partnerships over in the US. One of the anticipated outcomes of the trip is a reciprocal visit to Newcastle in the new year which will allow us to raise the profile of the North East as an attractive base for potential investors."

The Boston mission follows on from a visit earlier in the year led by the North East Automotive Alliance and instigated by WBD to enable the NEAA and businesses in the local automotive supply chain to forge links with potential customers and suppliers across South Carolina and in Atlanta.       

Peter Snaith, Head of Manufacturing at WBD, also based in Newcastle adds:

"With input from our US colleagues, we are developing a menu of services we can offer to UK businesses on a fixed fee basis wherever possible to help them obtain the support they need in relation to matters such as company incorporation, immigration, trademarks and other local legal and regulatory requirements. We can ensure exporters get the support they need from colleagues on the ground in the US with greater certainty in relation to the associated cost. We can also connect them with accountants and other advisers in the US as well as with our network of suppliers of complementary export support services across our various regions in the UK." 

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