Business Secretary visits Skanska in Sweden as part of mission to strengthen trade and investment partnerships
The UK’s Business Secretary Vince Cable begins a visit to Sweden and Finland today to promote the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the UK’s Information Economy Industrial Strategy.
During his four-day trip, the Business Secretary will visit Swedish and Finnish companies that invest in the UK, including Skanska. He will also meet UK companies that are building their businesses in the Nordic markets.
The Business Secretary will reaffirm the UK’s commitment to progress on negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between Europe and the US during visits to Stockholm and Helsinki.
During the visit Vince Cable will meet with Swedish and Finnish Ministers and representatives from business and industry to discuss opportunities for the UK and Nordic countries to increase cooperation, business and trade.
In a specific boost for the construction sector, he will attend a ceremony at the site of the New Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, where two UK companies, Astins and Measom, will sign construction contracts valued at £30 million.
With a contract value of SEK 14.5 billion, New Karolinska is Skanska’s largest-project ever. It is being conducted in partnership with British investment fund Innisfree as a public-private-partnership (PPP), with Skanska and Innisfree in charge of financing, construction, building and the operation and maintenance of the new hospital until 2040.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
“Growth remains the UK’s top priority, as it does for both Sweden and Finland and this will be the focus of my trip.
“The UK is committed to creating growth for the whole of the EU through a liberal, outward-facing Europe and counts on Sweden and Finland as like-minded nations, strong advocates of free trade and valued trading partners.
"Crucial to our future success will be the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership which will be central to our discussions. It has the potential to bring as much as £100 billion to the EU economy, £80 billion to the US economy and £85 billion to the rest of the world.”