Richard Burge LCCI

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London builds bridges with overseas cities

It’s fair to say that Richard Burge has had his travelling boots on recently. In the last few months, he has visited Hamburg and Berlin in Germany, Dubai, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego in a bid to build relationships with Chambers of Commerce and other key organisations in these localities.

Essentially, these visits have been fact-finding missions, an attempt to explore synergies between these localities and London – still viewed internationally as a global destination for trade.

Ultimately, memorandums of understanding (MOUs) will be agreed with each Chamber before the implementation of three-year engagement plans that will, hopefully, boost trade between London and each of these overseas cities. It’s a bold, ambitious plan that Richard has been driving forward since assuming his current role as CEO of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) two years ago.

He says: “We’re trying to create and maintain international relationships in a post-Brexit world. Despite all of the political rhetoric, London is a global, welcoming city with good connections to the outside world. Essentially, we’re still the same outward-facing, pro-business city as we were before Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our engagement plans will be very specific and tailored to each city region; they won’t be a one-size-fits-all boilerplate. As I’ve been discovering in recent months, each city has its own strengths and challenges to overcome. My job is to see where the synergies and gaps are so we can build mutually beneficial relationships between London Chamber members and members in Chambers overseas. I’ve learned something from all of the places I’ve visited. For example, there’s already something to work with in north Germany, where there are 4,500 British-owned businesses. This gives us a strong foundation to build connections between Hamburg and London Chambers. Can we, for instance, facilitate more trade between SMEs in these two regions? Can we get more small businesses here to export into north Germany?”

There are also clear synergies between London and Dubai, particularly the Thames Freeport, a major economic zone that connects Ford’s world-class Dagenham engine plant to the global ports at London Gateway and Tilbury. Given that London Gateway is owned by Dubai-headquartered DP World, there are opportunities to explore the trade of goods and services between London and Dubai, particularly as companies in the freeport can take advantage of tax benefits that make it easier and cheaper to move goods into and out of the country. This could also encourage some Dubai firms to re-shore all or part of their operations to the freeport.

“I see opportunities everywhere,” says Richard. “Berlin is a significant city in the EU’s future and the business ecosystem in Los Angeles is quite similar to the one we have in London.

I also met the CEO of a San Diegobased tech business that has just launched an operation in London. He stressed the importance of having a presence in the UK capital to position his company as an international business. We have to keep reminding ourselves of the attractiveness of London.

San Diego also has a strong trading relationship with Mexico, with good access to Mexico’s skilled labour force. Historically, this draws parallels between London and the EU, where the movement of labour has benefited both parties for many years.”