The IOE&IT yesterday ran a ‘Meet the Commercial Officers’ event in partnership with the Department for International Trade and hosted by Grant Thornton.

The free event was set up for businesses and individuals from the financial and professional services to learn more about DIT Commercial Officers, who they are and how they will interact with the Institute and partners going forward.

The event featured representatives from Australia, China, India, LatAc (Mexico, Columbia and Brazil), Kazakhstan, Turkey, USA (Chicago and Washington DC), Poland, Israel, Vietnam, The Netherlands, Qatar and Singapore.

Simon Littlewood, partner at Grant Thornton, talked about the work they have done worldwide within the financial sector and alongside DIT. He referred to the Growth365 International collaboration, an online network of 50,000 people in over 135 countries and a network of 27 offices in the UK and we can also introduce you to third party specialist providers.

Kevin Shakespeare, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the IOE&IT, gave a presentation outlining the support and training provided to the sector by the IOE&IT. He shared two case studies of businesses from the sector who are members of the IOE&IT (ICC Solutions and DirectID) and gave an overview of the collaboration with UK Export Finance, developing online and interactive learning modules.

Businesses and professionals within the sector were invited to engage with the IOE&IT through getting involved with the webinar programme, World Trade Matters journal, joined thought leadership on fintech and blockchain, and building on the IOE&IT’s international projects in Saudi Arabia and Ghana.