Glasgow Chamber of Commence signs Manhattan trade agreement

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has announced a formal cooperation agreement with its counterpart in Manhattan in New York City in a move that the chamber has hinted may not be the last of its type.

While the cooperation agreement is a first for the Glasgow Chamber, a spokeswoman revealed that a “couple more” similar arrangements are in the pipeline.

It tie-up is aimed at promoting trade and joint ventures between businesses and public sector organisations in Glasgow and comes after Glasgow president Neil Amner and deputy chief executive Richard Muir joined a party from Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Glasgow Life, and universities and colleges in New York last month.

The spokeswoman said that the historic cooperation agreement was designing for “trying to pair up businesses in Glasgow with like-minded ones in Manhattan”.

She highlighted plans to take businesses of various sizes and public sector institutions operating in and around Glasgow on a two-day visit to New York City to meet their counterparts and pursue opportunities.

She said that businesses and other organisations would be invited to submit to Glasgow Chamber details of what they were trying to achieve, for example in terms of supply chain arrangements or joint ventures.

The spokeswoman added that Manhattan Chamber of Commerce would then help in identifying companies or other organisations with which the businesses and institutions from Glasgow should meet to discuss potential opportunities.

Mr Amner said: “The Chamber movement is an international one, and has the potential to provide help to partner organisations all over the globe. There are close historic links between Scotland and the New York area, and we believe this fledgling relationship with Manhattan Chamber could lead to important business contacts for us and for our members in the future.

“There is some irony in the fact that Glasgow Chamber, the oldest in the English-speaking world, was founded in the late 18century to help Glasgow merchants find new markets in the aftermath of the American Wars of Independence. Now here we are building bridges across the Atlantic to our mutual benefit. Glasgow Chamber has a President’s Club made up of influential business people in its “Home” and “Away” teams. It was asked to invite members of U.S. “Away Team “which includes top exiled Scots in business there who have agreed to contribute time and connections for the benefit of Glasgow’s and Scotland’s economy.

Manhattan Chamber of Commerce president Jessica Walker added: “We are excited by this new relationship with our Scottish colleagues in Glasgow, with whom we have much in common.

“I feel sure members of both Chambers will gain from what will arise from it in the future.”