Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) CEO James Selka used his speech at the Stuttgart Moulding Expo to deliver an upbeat message to European counterparts on Brexit and doing business in the UK.
Mr Selka emphasised that “the UK are open for business” and explain the background as to why the UK made this historic decision last June.
The speech was delivered at the European Tooling Platform seminar, which was located at the ISTMA Lounge at the Moulding Expo on 31st May 2017.
The MTA CEO said “I hope to clear up any misconception about the UK position in Europe and hope that we can move into the Brexit negotiations in a positive and constructive manner.”
It was also a chance to explain some of the historic background as to why the UK made the decision to leave the European Union “The UK joined the EU more for trading reasons, rather than the community aspects of the Union. We have a very Eurosceptic mainstream print media who have stoked division for decades and influenced the final outcome of the vote. The MTA are here to help see through the fog of misinformation and therefore help UK and European manufacturers navigate this difficult situation, helping to maintain the excellent relationships that already exist between UK and European trading partners”.
The talk was also an opportunity to also outline what MTA members want from the Brexit negotiations and shared results of a recent membership survey, saying “The survey of our membership highlighted two big things that our members stated they need. To secure ‘single market access’ to make trade as ‘frictionless’ and as easy as possible, so that the UK can continue to operate within European supply chains. We also need to make sure that we stay within the European Standards architecture.”
He continued “The UK has seen some major votes of confidence in terms of manufacturing investment post Brexit, with companies like Airbus, Boeing, Nissan, Toyota and McLaren making long term strategic investments in the country. The UK has a worldwide reputation for engineering excellence and this has not diminished since the vote last year.”
The talk was well attended and led to some fruitful discussion with those in present, Mr Selka concluded “We see the MTA’s role as more important than ever in Europe, we will continue to engage with the UK government and be the unified voice of the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector. We are also committed to our European counterparts and will work closely with associations like CECIMO, CELIMO and ORGALIME, to ensure we move forward together in a positive and constructive way.”
