Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help support UK businesses to export to Morocco.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting UK businesses to export to Morocco. The UK-Morocco Association Agreement, which entered into force in January 2021, facilitates our trading relationship. Bilateral trade was worth £3.4 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023, up £661 million in current prices on the same period the previous year.
In February 2023, the 2nd Association Council was held where Ministers discussed commercial opportunities and collaboration to increase bilateral trade and investment. DBT continues to provide export support to companies through a network of trade advisers, sector specialists, Export Support Service, Export Academy, International Markets network as well as through UK Export Finance, where £4.5bn of credit is available for Morocco.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help support UK businesses to invest in Morocco.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade supports UK businesses looking to invest in Morocco by offering advice on the market and communicating opportunities which may be of interest to UK business. In 2021, the outward stock of foreign direct investment from the UK in Morocco was £904 million.
At the UK-African Investment Summit on 23-24 April 2024, the UK will showcase investment and commercial opportunities in Morocco.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to encourage bilateral trade between the UK and Morocco.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade regularly engages businesses and the Moroccan government to promote and support bilateral trade and green investment. The UK-Morocco Association Agreement, which entered into force in 2021, facilitates this trading relationship.
Bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Morocco was worth £3.4 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2023, up £661 million in current prices on the same period the previous year.
In February 2023, the 2nd Association Council was held, when Ministers discussed how best to increase bilateral trade and investment.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support the manufacture of new zero emissions whole aircraft in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 setting out an approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy Government co-invests in ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. The ATI programme is investing £58m in the development of whole new zero emission aircraft led by Vertical Aerospace, ZeroAvia Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls-Royce and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Industry has co-invested £57m alongside these grants. As all the aircraft are still in the development phase none have yet entered full scale production.
To support further work on zero emission flight the ATI led the £15m FlyZero project. This in-depth research study, which was completed in March 2022, found green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft.