• Culture Secretary backs UK digital economy at leading Nordic tech hubs
• Digital Minister takes cyber trade mission to tap huge markets in Singapore and promote UK fintech sector in Tokyo

Karen Bradley will travel to Finland and Sweden where she will set out the Government’s commitment to growing the UK’s digital economy which is already worth more than £118 billion a year and employs more than 1.4 million people.

Matt Hancock will be leading a trade mission of UK cyber firms to Singapore and follow the Prime Minister’s recent trip to Japan with another ministerial visit to the country to deepen ties and build new trade connections.

Both will promote the benefits of investing in the UK and the benefits of collaboration with UK companies. They will set out that the UK remains a strong place for investment with particular strengths across the tech sector, including in AI, govtech, gaming and cyber security, and that the 2017 Tech Nation report placed the figure for tech investment in the UK at £6.8bn.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley said:

Britain has become an undisputed European hub for tech investment, with twice as much investment in tech as any other European country, and plans set out in our recent Digital Strategy will help make sure this continues. I’ll be in FInland and Sweden to showcase and promote the UK’s booming digital economy and outline how deeper collaboration with our world-leading companies can benefit both regions.

Minister for Digital Matt Hancock said:

The UK is a world leader in cyber security and our industry is thriving with exports worth nearly £1.5 billion last year. I’m determined to help the next generation of firms grow as we build a truly global Britain and hope to make real progress by leading a delegation including some of the nation’s most innovative businesses.

Tech firm growth in the UK is spread right across the country, with more than two thirds of UK investment in the sector outside London last year. The ministers will say that since 2001 new technologies have created 3.5m new jobs in the UK and London has more people working in fintech than any other city in the world – standing at 44,000 in 2016.

The Nordic region is the fastest growing start-up region in Europe, so the Secretary of State will:

• meet investors and companies at two of the region’s leading tech hubs: Helsinki’s Start-up Sauna, which includes Leadfeeder, a start-up with partners in the UK, and Stockholm’s Sup46, which produced Skype and Spotify and brought a delegation to London Tech Week in June this year.

• visit established telecoms company Ericsson where she will promote further cooperation in next generation mobile technology, 5G. The UK is at the forefront of testing and trialing the technology and Swedish firm Ericsson is currently collaborating on one of the Government’s £16 5G test networks at King’s College in London, announced earlier this year.

• highlight the UK’s expertise as she visits Finland’s Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency. This follows a recent Swedish delegation visiting the UK’s world-leading National Cyber Security Centre.

The UK is a world leader in cyber security and committed to working with like-minded partners to target and defend against threats. The cyber security sector in Britain has grown from an estimated £2.8bn in 2011 to £22 billion in 2015. The UK’s cyber security workforce has increased by 160 per cent since 2011.

Digital Minister Matt Hancock will:

• lead a UK cyber security delegation, including companies such as Deep Secure, Digital Shadows, Immersive Labs and NNC Group, to Singapore International Cyber Week at the GovWare Conference. In the same week DiT and InnovateUK will also lead other trade missions to the TechInnovation event.

• open the Singapore International Cyber Week to engage an audience of international ministers on the UK’s priorities and showcase the UK as a world leader in digital, tech and cyber innovation.

• visit Japan to celebrate the work of the UK’s hugely successful video games industry on a visit to Sega, the nation’s leadership in digital innovation as he visits Sony, and promote the country’s fintech, AI, robotics and 5G sectors.

The Government’s recent Digital Strategy followed the Government’s Industrial Strategy which aims to create an economy that helps Britain secure a future as a competitive, global nation.

The Industrial Strategy is about finding and seizing the opportunities to work more productively to create the conditions that boost earning power for everyone throughout the UK – its people, places and companies.

The ministers will also make the point the UK is an excellent place to visit and receives more than 1 million visits from Sweden and Finland combined to the every year and more than 400,000 from Japan and Singapore.

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The two leaders are expected to agree that the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has significant potential to boost transatlantic prosperity – and should be swiftly transitioned to form a new bilateral arrangement between the UK and Canada after Brexit.

They are expected to agree the establishment of a new joint working group to prepare the ground for transitioning the deal.

This will be the 13th working group we have established across 18 countries since the EU referendum to begin work on ambitious post-Brexit trade deals.

The Prime Minister will also welcome the appointment of her new trade envoy to Canada, Andrew Percy.

Mr Percy will drive forward work to build the strongest possible bilateral trade and investment relationship.

The UK is already the second biggest destination for Canadian investment abroad, after only the US.

Our bilateral trade relationship is worth £15.2 billion annually to both our economies, with £1.75 billion Canadian money having been invested in the UK since March.

The UK has been a leading champion of CETA as an EU member. The ambitious deal eliminates nearly all (98%) Canadian import duties – a significant boon for those looking to export to the country.

And transitioning the benefits of CETA will now create massive opportunities for trade between Britain and Canada once we have left the EU.

The UK has over 10,000 companies exporting goods to Canada, supporting around 240,000 jobs in the UK. The elimination of Canadian import duties is expected to particularly benefit the British food and drink sector, with the wines and spirits industry benefitting from the immediate removal of tariffs for wines and spirit products entering Canada. Non-tariff barriers for alcohol products will also be reduced, improving conditions and opportunities for UK exporters.

In Canada, the Prime Minister will also host a business roundtable event with major Canadian investors into the UK.

The Prime Minister and Mr Trudeau are expected to agree that Canada is a natural partner for the UK in building a rules-based international system and strengthening and improving the WTO to ensure a global economy that works for everyone.

A number of commercial deals are expected to be announced during the visit.

These include the expansion of Vancouver-based social media company Hootsuite in London, the expansion of Tesco’s product range to 100 West Coast supermarkets by the end of this year, and the Turner and Townsend £34 million contract to oversee refurbishment of part of the Canadian Parliament – which the Prime Minister is due to visit on Monday.

This is a significant show of confidence in the UK economy and our prospects for post-Brexit trade and investment.

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Prime Minister said:

Canada and the United Kingdom have a long shared history.

British and Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen and women have fought and died alongside each other in the pursuit of freedom, including at the Battle of Britain, where 23 brave Canadian servicemen lost their lives.

We have developed the institutions of Westminster democracy, personal rights, and the common law. And we celebrate together our shared monarchy, and close ties of family and friendship.

My visit to Canada today is not only about recognising our past but also looking ahead to our bright future. We are both countries with ambitions to lead on the world stage and progressive values that underpin those ambitions – values including the importance of free trade, and respect for international law.

When we come together and work as one to project our shared values on the world stage, we form a powerful union.

Further information:

Business roundtable event attendees:

• Neil Bruce, CEO, SNC Lavalin
• Dave McKay, CEO, Royal Bank of Canada
• Mark Machin, CEO, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)
• Ryan Holmes, CEO, Hootsuite
• Janet De Silva, CEO, Toronto Board of Trade
• Michael Sabia, CEO, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec
• Alain Bellemare, CEO, Bombardier
• Janet Ecker, CEO, Toronto Financial Services Alliance
• John Manley, CEO, Business Council of Canada
• Anne Healey, CEO BAE Systems Canada
• Pavi Binning, Weston Group