National Manufacturing Conference to address reshoring & exports

Keynote speakers Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP and Secretary of State for Business Rt Hon Vince Cable MP will join leading industrialists to debate the challenge of doubling British exports to 1 trillion by 2020, while reversing the migration of manufacturing overseas.

Chief Executive of GKN plc, Nigel Stein will be joined on stage by Peter Anstiss, Business Development Director at BAE Systems Military Air and Information. Other successful exporters will be speaking, including: Angus Thirwell, ECO and Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat; Tony Caldeira, CEO of Caldeira Group, and Sarah Brown, Managing Director of PAI Skincare.

Chris Sullivan, Chief Executive of RBS Corporate Banking Division, and Crispin Simon, Managing Director of Trade for UKTI, are among the panellists who will debate the Make it Britain Challenge. The debate will continue into the evening for the EEF Conference Dinner, featuring guest speakers Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna MP and political commentator Matthew Paris.

The event, sponsored by Asset Finance Provider Lombard and presented in partnership with session sponsor NatWest and technology partner Canon, coincides with the publication of an EEF research report into reshoring. This will reveal the extent of reshoring in the UK today, examining the drivers behind bringing production home and the economic impact.

Broadcaster Emily Maitlis, is conference chair.

EEF Chief Executive, Terry Scuoler, says: "Is the reshoring trend fact or fiction? is the flow of production back to the UK a trickle or torrent? And what types of manufacturing are returning to our shores? These are the questions we will be posing at the conference and that our research paper will inform. Some of the UK's most successful exporters will be sharing their stories and delegates will have an opportunity to talk to government and the opposition about how they can support export growth and help companies restore and strengthen British production."

Further information about the National Manufacturing Conference can be found at www.manufacturingconference.co.uk.