In his speech at the Institute's Graduation & Prize Giving Ceremony on 24th May, our recently appointed President, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, stressed the importance of rebalancing our economy, given that since the 1960s we have run a trade deficit almost all of the time.

Lord Green said: "I find myself as President of a very exciting Institute, which was never more important than it is now.

"Britain faces an interesting future, we have chartered a new course as a Global Britain. At the heart of that new course will have to be a very impactive, very proactive trade strategy, reaching out to so many different countries of the world to ensure that British business is able to access markets and do for this country what we need to do, which is rebalance our economy in so many ways."

"Brexit adds all sorts of new challenges and opportunities to that, it makes it all the more important that we equip ourselves with the skills and the wisdom and the experience needed to export our way through to success," Lord Green added.

Talking about his time as Trade Minister, Lord Green spoke about meeting businesses of all shapes and sizes in every sector of the economy that are taking the world on. Recalling stories of British businesses who have grown successfully off the back of exports, Lord Green said: "It almost doesn't matter which sector you're in, what kind of business, and it certainly doesn't matter whether you're talking about large businesses or small businesses or start-ups, there are export opportunities and we need as a country to ensure that we are doing the best possible job of seizing those opportunities."

View Lord Green's full speech in the video above.