SCOTTISH Chambers of Commerce has welcomed "brave steps" to boost exports proposed by the independent Cole Commission.
The independent review, commissioned by Labour and chaired by Graham Cole of AgustaWestland, calls for political leadership from the Prime Minister down to drive a "revolution in export culture" and shake up the "complex" and "fragmented" current system.
It concludes that the UK's trade with the rest of the world must "no longer play second fiddle".
The commission also urges "a radical overhaul of the financing, support mechanisms but most importantly the attitude to exports and exporting across the country".
Liz Cameron, chief executive of Scottish Chambers, said:
"It is encouraging for businesses across Scotland and the wider United Kingdom to see a Commission which has not only listened to our views but has produced a number of innovative recommendations, which, if adopted, would provide what business has been calling for and substantially increase the ability of Scottish businesses to export.
"There are pockets of great activity taking place but this report rightly recognises that we need to take this agenda further and take brave steps or we will be at risk of being left behind other nations and missing massive opportunities."
She added: "The chamber network has championed the need for a bold approach, which places business in the driving seat to create the change that is required. It is clear that business-to-business networks are fruitful and effective. This is the opportune time for the Scottish Government and politicians from all political parties to embrace these recommendations and ensure they are fully adopted across the whole of the United Kingdom."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article