Commissioner Knott is visiting Guatemala as part of a tour to Central America to champion UK trade with economic partners in the region.

With this visit, the Commissioner seeks to strengthen bilateral trade relations between the UK and Guatemala, understand the priorities of Guatemala and the projects it has in the pipeline in order to identify key areas where the UK can offer its expertise. During these meetings, the Commissioner will highlight the United Kingdom’s interest in continuing to work with Guatemala to create more opportunities that help build closer commercial ties that promote prosperity for both countries.

For that purpose, the Trade Commissioner will meet with senior representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Infrastructure, Municipality of Guatemala City, the Central American Bank of Economic Integration –CABEI-, British multinationals established in Guatemala and Guatemalan companies looking to invest into the UK.

The Trade Commissioner will also remark the opportunities that the Association Agreement between the UK and Central America brings to foster the trade relation with Guatemala and promote business possibilities to UK companies looking to expand overseas. He will stress the importance to promote a level-playing field for British companies trying to do more business in Guatemala and strengthen the rule of law to attract more trade and investors to the country.

Commissioner Knott will also stress the need to boosting economic security, by reducing economic dependency on aggressors and creating stronger trade, investment, science and tech ties among allies and partners. He will also present the case to promote a greener economy.

During his visit, the UK Export Finance (UKEF) Regional Head for Central America & the Caribbean will accompany the Trade Commissioner. UKEF is the UK’s export credit agency that offers finance options to projects where UK companies are involved. This will provide an opportunity for Guatemala and the UK to explore ways to help deliver infrastructure and development projects in Guatemala.

According to UK statistics, total trade between the UK and Guatemala was USD 236 million in 2021. Total UK exports to Guatemala amounted USD 88 million; these included cars, beverages, chemicals and specialised machinery. Total UK imports from Guatemala were USD 148 million and included vegetables, fruits, coffee, sugar and beverages.

Over £3.7million has been spent boosting defences in Stokesley with the aim of managing the impacts of climate change and the flow of the River Leven through and around the town.

Work on the new defences has included:

• The construction of a new upstream flow control structure. When water levels in the River Leven are high, the upstream structure will automatically divert flows down the flood diversion channel around Stokesley. The new structure will also provide significantly improved fish passage and allows greater flows down the Leven into Stokesley, under normal water conditions, improving the River Leven’s health.
• A re-profiled flood diversion channel which is easier to maintain and has greater capacity to contain the flow of flood water, which is diverted from the Leven by the upstream flow control structure.
• The construction of a new downstream flow control structure. The new structure has side hung doors which close during high flows, stopping the Eller Beck flowing back up the Leven into Stokesley.
• River restoration on the Levenside, delivered in collaboration with the Tees Rivers Trust. The works here include the installation of a new fish pass and deflectors to create different flow speeds and a more naturalised river.

The Environment Agency appointed Mott MacDonald and BAM Nuttall in a joint venture to design and build the scheme with construction starting in autumn 2020 and work completing in August 2022. The scheme was officially opened on Friday 23rd September by Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond alongside representatives from the Environment Agency and Tees Rivers Trust.

Stokesley Flood Alleviation Scheme

Residents ‘will be reassured’

Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond (North Yorkshire), said:

Many Stokesley residents and business will be reassured by this work which maintains and improves flood protection – saving many people from the heartache of dealing with the devastating impact flooding can have.

The environmental improvements are a welcome additional bonus. Levenside is a beautiful part of the town and this work only enhances its attraction. I’d also like to thank the many volunteers who helped with the river works.

Jamie Fletcher, the Environment Agency’s Flood Risk Operations Manager for the North East, said:

The community of Stokesley have seen first-hand how devastating flooding can be. That’s why I’m so pleased to see the completion of these vital defences ahead of winter.

This new £3.7 million investment will better protect 509 homes and businesses, giving peace of mind to residents for many years to come, while also bringing benefits for wildlife in the wider area. It is also a great example of how we work with partners to make communities more resilient to the escalating impacts of the climate emergency.

River ‘is a great asset for the town’

Ben Lamb, CEO at the Tees Rivers Trust said:

The Trust have been working in and around the Leven Catchment for 12 years and have talked with Stokesley residents and interest groups about improving the river through the town on many occasions. Therefore, it has been a great opportunity to finally get in and give the river some TLC and make some improvements to flow, habitat and fish passage.

We had an enormous amount of help from volunteers who tirelessly shifted over 50 tons of gravel into the new meander area in town and enjoyed being treated to coffee and chips from neighbouring businesses in the heat! The river is a great asset for the town, and we are getting regular reports of wildlife in and around the river since we completed the work.

The Stokesley scheme is just one of many across the North East that better protects properties and businesses as part of a £132million six year investment programme to create or improve flood and coastal defences in the region.

Last year’s record government investment announcement of £5.2 billion to better protect 336,000 properties across England by 2027 includes a further £193million investment in North East defences.

TNO, Sheffield University and Cyberselves Universal Ltd, will develop four projects over the next 10 months that will then be tested and demonstrated next year.

The telexistence technology being developed has the potential to give those working in hazardous environments the capability to undertake tasks without physically being present, which can decrease risk and reduce the logistical burden associated with dangerous operations.

The companies were tasked with evaluating their innovations against ‘use cases’ in:

• Specialist Nuclear Decommissioning Tasks
• Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)
• Defence and Security Medical applications

NDA group companies were involved in developing the Special Nuclear Decommissioning Tasks ‘use case’ drawing on the experience and previous work in glove box decommissioning, remote handling and waste repackaging.

Andrew Gray, the NDA’s Innovation Delivery Manager, said:

“We’re excited to be working with DASA and Dstl on this competition. Advancing technologies in the area of telexistence will help us deliver our decommissioning mission more safely, securely and efficiently in enabling us to move humans away from harm.

“It’s our aim to reduce decommissioning activities carried out by humans in hazardous environments by 50% by 2030. We’re really encouraged to see such fantastic solutions being put forward by the supply chain.”

Mark Hodder, Project Manager at Dstl, added:

“The DASA Telexistence: Phase 2 competition has been a great success in finding the latest innovators to collaborate with Dstl and NDA to develop a complete system using science and technology to integrate and create a platform using telepresence, robotics and haptics together to achieve results.”

The NDA’s partnership with Dstl and DASA, is an example of cross-government diversification and collaboration which has allowed access to a wider talent pool and the opportunity to work with smaller organisations that are not already part of the nuclear supply chain.

Phase 2 of the competition follows on from Phase 1, where £570K worth of contracts were awarded to nine organisations delivering 11 projects.