 Well, Mr. President, Director-General, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to be here tonight to address businesses who represent so much of what is great about our country and having listened to Sir Roger's speech, I absolutely applaud and agree with the clear truths, the hard truths that he spelt out and I thank him for the tributes paid to the change taking place in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on which I wish to expand and he spoke a little about the unhappy public or tests of public popularity. Of course we had local elections 10 days ago and in my party there was only one thing really particularly to be happy about which was Boris was re-elected as Mayor of London here and it reminded me of the first time I ever went to campaign for him when he was a candidate in the unlikely place of Cluid South in North Wales in 1997 and he and I for electoral purposes were put on the flangothlin steam train in the cab and we were waving at the cameras then we realized we were alone in the cab and we did not know how to we did not know how to slow down a steam train accelerating on the flangothlin railway somebody came to rescue us and then I said to Boris so how's it going then Boris and he said well it's going to be huge and I said well what's going to be huge he said I don't know but it's going to be huge and it was in this case the swing to labour was huge in 1997 and ever since then at the start of the election Boris and I said it's going to be huge and he when it was when it was when we were all being asked a few years ago who had taken drugs at university and it was written in the Daily Telegraph that Boris had never taken drugs at university he responded this is an outrageous slur he said he said there are no no go areas as far as I'm concerned and nobody asked him about it ever again and clearly this is the way we should all behave but maybe we wouldn't all get away with it and I hope that just as there are no no go areas for him that for you and me in promoting British business overseas there are very few no go areas in the years ahead and as foreign secretary and a member of the cabinet I see every week every day how the domestic economic scene and the international scene comes together I see how it's crucially important that investors overseas have confidence in Britain as a place to base their business how it's vital that we have embassies around the world that are able to champion Britain and help create a stable and open international environment in which our country can thrive and this is why foreign policy has to support jobs and growth and prosperity some people have sneered at this since I started arguing it they failed to grasp that we have to help enterprising people create the wealth that drives the investment in our schools our hospitals our roads that pays for our overseas development programs and of course our foreign policy has to achieve other things too we work on those every day support for human rights is in our core national interest and deep in our DNA as a nation this is crucially important too but our ability to promote freedom and democracy is strengthened by a strong economy and a global role foreign policy is not something that exists in a vacuum it is not window dressing for our nation overseas it is not the plaything or pastime of ministers to be channeled into utopian schemes to remake the world and it is not merely a rapid reaction capability putting out fires when crises erupt around the world it must be and with this government it is a coherent plan for how we secure our country's long-term interests in a more competitive and unpredictable world we face formidable challenges in foreign affairs from nuclear proliferation to climate change to international terrorism and we fight all those dangers every day but the greatest single danger to our country today is economic in nature I led one side of the negotiations that produced the coalition government and the atmosphere in those negotiations was urgent we knew that our country needed a stable government able to make tough calls at a time of unprecedented economic risk and two years on we have taken many of those difficult decisions when we came to office the deficit stood at 11 percent of GDP it's now forecast to fall to 7.6 percent next year this has delivered lower borrowing costs for government households and businesses sterling guilt rates are at their lowest since the year 1703 at the moment our economy for that for those purposes is seen as a safe haven in Europe and we've begun domestic reforms to create the conditions for growth and competitiveness but the sense of urgency and purpose has to be with us still we are still grappling with the effects of the worst economic crisis to hit our country and the world in living memory the economic recovery has been slower and more uneven than expected including in Britain global growth has been weaker than predicted and there is still instability in the global financial system the eurozone is facing profound challenges many of which in my opinion were obvious from the beginning but which are now exacerbated by weak growth and excessive debt commodity price shocks are leading to rising costs and dampening recovery and we're starting to see creeping fingers of protectionism in parts of the world picking up the edges of the free and open markets on which the international economy depends this is what we're up against as a country no single event would provide a bigger boost to the British economy in the short term than the resolution of the eurozone crisis and to return to growth in Europe and the crucial ingredients of achieving that growth are fewer barriers to business more free trade less intrusive regulation and the understanding that governments have never and will never create wealth solely through their own activities but we won't put Britain back on the path to prosperity unless we deal with our own economies deep underlying problems and this is the driving purpose of our government we have to rebalance our economy and deal with the legacy of national debt on a colossal scale we have to boost economic confidence and attract investment break into new markets and reduce our trade deficits we have to rise to the challenge of earning our living in the world where indeed many British businesses are leading the way we have to recognize that our graduates are now competing in a global marketplace against well-schooled ambitious and dynamic young people in burgeoning new markets around the world it is different from the environment when most of us left university and entered the world of work we have to win our place in this world economy and I argue to set out to want success more than some of our competitors and as I wrote in the times this morning that is directed to every civil servant entrepreneur shopkeeper trader investor student and minister the challenge for all our countries is for all countries is to adapt and thrive or fail to change and fall behind now some nations will succeed in doing this and some I think may not our government is determined that our country will be one that does succeed and that is why we're reducing the deficit and bringing public finances under control creating a tax system that fosters growth and is attractive to business reducing corporation tax to among the lowest in the G20 and lifting 2 million people out of income tax altogether introducing a welfare system that encourages people into work and an education system that gives people the skills they need to succeed by doing these things we are turning around the fortunes of our economy for the long term and it's my firm belief that in the 2020s these reforms particularly in education and in welfare will be seen as having been as important to our country as the trade union reforms and privatizations of the 1980s my objective in leading the foreign and Commonwealth office is to ensure that when these domestic reforms take effect and the benefits are seen the British people will also find that we have developed vital new networks and connections overseas so that they can make the most of the opportunities open to them on top of preventing conflict promoting our values and dealing with crises this is the vital role of the foreign office it must support open and fair markets resist protectionism battle bribery and corruption and take the lead in protecting the intellectual property on which much of our trade advantage is based our diplomats have to help create new openings for British business overseas and for inward investment and in the European Union champion growth business friendly regulation the expansion of the single market and the free trade agreements that bring billions of pounds worth of business into our economy all of us know that sustainable growth in our economy is not going to come from government spending fueled by debt or in current circumstances from domestic consumer demand it is going to come from investment and from boosting the share of our economy that comes from exports our economic achievements have always been built on our prowess as a trading nation the openness inventiveness and daring hardwired into our national dna helps explain why it is that we are still the seventh largest economy and the sixth largest trading nation in the world when we only make up one percent of its population we export around 30 percent of our GDP we have immense advantages of language history and geography and british ideas and technologies are changing the world you know about them in manchester no bell prize winning scientists are developing graphene the new wonder material that is one carbon atom thick in cambridge arm are designing the technology that goes into 90 percent of all smartphones and in london scientists from ucl and imperial college are researching ways to use nano technology to tackle cancer or to generate cheap solar energy it is achievements like these that undoubtedly will fuel our future success but we have to be even better at deploying them in the future than we have been in recent years we've actually lost global export market share over the last decade and fallen behind our european competitors in emerging economies our trade with brazil a country of almost 200 million people is half our trade with denmark and the number of sms exporting in this country is below the european average today the vast majority of our exports head to markets which will remain vitally important to us but where growth is currently sluggish 70 percent of all our exports go to north america the eu japan and switzerland and less than 10 percent are destined for the 10 largest emerging economies now long-term economic predictions are often wrong in their detail but on current trends emerging markets and developing countries will account for about 60 percent of global GDP by the middle of the next decade and in the first half of this century the bricks already larger than the eurozone could overtake the g7 so we have to tap into new markets as well as retaining our strong position in the old particularly in the vital markets of the united states and the european union this is a challenge that we can embrace with enthusiasm over the next 15 years the world economy is projected to double from 60 trillion dollars to 120 trillion dollars that's 60 trillion dollars of new prosperity within a generation and of course we want british people to share in it so the first task of the foreign and commonwealth office when it comes to supporting our economy is to build the relationships that help british business expand market share in the fastest growing economies the chancellor has set the ambition of doubling uk exports to a trillion pounds a year by 2020 and the prime minister has called for us to help get another 100 000 companies exporting by 2020 if we can increase the number of firms exporting by 100 000 we can generate an extra 30 billion pounds a year for the british economy lord green in his capacity as trade minister is bringing energy and determination to this task working closely as you know with the cbi we hope to see more initiatives like the joint government cbi trade mission to turkey last month that he led with john cridland the first of its kind for mid-sized businesses and in the foreign and commonwealth office we have a much sharper commercial focus a reinforced economics unit more staff seconded to business a charter for business and a leaner and more focused set of objectives the foreign office i inherited had 10 objectives anyone in business knows that it's impossible for a workforce to be effective if there are more objectives than they can remember so now we have three objectives safeguarding britain's national security supporting british nationals overseas and building our country's prosperity and to achieve that building of prosperity we have defined our responsibilities as creating the conditions and opportunities for uk growth securing more trade investment and jobs for the uk and tackling global economic challenges including low carbon growth and our embassies have a mandate to help british companies win contracts promote british sectoral strengths and to understand and influence economic financial and political conditions in other countries and they do this alongside their vital work of supporting global security a g20 plus world is harder for people to navigate than a g8 world companies seeking to export for the first time or to break into new markets face obstacles whether it's language unfamiliar legal systems and local laws or political risk and uncertainty we want to do even more to help companies overcome that and i'm pleased that many people in business are now reporting a cultural shift in the foreign office towards the more effective promotion of the british economy last year the fco and uk ti helped over 20 000 smaller medium-sized enterprises to break into markets around the world last year british exports of goods and services were up by 50 billion pounds a double digit rise of 11 percent including significant increases to brazil russia and south africa and to china and india which for the first time featured in our top dozen export destinations the first reminbi bond issued outside china was issued in london by a british bank we signed a uk us defense trade cooperation treaty that will make it easier for british firms to bid for us military contracts our consulates in houston and denver helped to prevent protectionist by american legislation our embassy and uk ti team in riyadh helped in vences secure a 420 million pound contract for rail signaling technology to help transport pilgrims between mecca and medina and uk ti helped w s atkins to use its olympics cache to win business overseas in countries such as catar host of the 2022 fifa world cup so across the globe we're working to support you and our your president sir roger car addressed all our ambassadors in london uh very recently he told us that cbi members want greater assistance from our embassies in making contacts deploying local knowledge providing better coordination and following up around ministerial business delegations we've heard these messages and we will strive to improve our performance in all these areas we need you to tell the foreign office where you encounter difficulties and to contact us and let us know what more we can do to support you and we need even closer cooperation and understanding between us on trends in the world and opportunities for prosperity but from the beginning of the new government we have embarked on expanding our diplomatic network so british diplomacy is present in more places with greater force and effectiveness our embassies are the essential infrastructure of our recovery overseas so we are reversing the steady shrinking of britain's diplomatic footprint under the last government by 2015 we will have deployed 300 extra staff to fast growing cities and regions in more than 20 countries and we will have opened up to 11 new british embassies and eight new consulates or trade offices for example we will soon be one of only three countries in the u to be represented in all the countries of asian with its new single market of 600 million people we've already opened new consulates in canada and brazil and my announcement yesterday of two new deputy high commissions in india mean that we will have more posts in india than any other diplomatic service in the world and our ministers are relentless in promoting britain overseas we're passionate about helping to create jobs and growth and have already made more than 400 this is just the foreign office ministers more than 400 separate visits to 127 countries including many countries that have not seen a british minister in years or decades honing in on opportunities for britain as well as vital foreign policy issues as i travel around the world and i've been to 54 countries so far i'm really proud of what we make and do in this country we produce high value goods and services in every sector in every part of this country we have the biggest industries in europe for the life sciences ict defense and security and the financial services the bbc's natural history programs are watched in 200 countries and territories doctor who was the most downloaded show on itunes in the united states last year we live in a country which after centuries of buying fine wines and cognac from france is now exporting to france the french ambassador is here we are exporting exporting to france five bottles of scotch whiskey per second and and as someone who worked with jcb i also know that we've got some of the best engineering and manufacturing skills on earth well over a million cars a year are built in plants here in britain 70 percent of them for export and around half our exports are manufactured goods we have to do everything we can to make sure british people at home and abroad are aware of these things and to champion them ourselves and we also have to protect our competitive advantage so we're bringing forward guidance for business on how together we make our networks more resilient against cyber crime and cyber attack so we have a government working to ensure that we have the most competitive tax system the best education system a revamped welfare system and the most attractive environment to invest and start a business we have a foreign office building the connections to the fast-growing economies of the world that will be indispensable to our future we have ministers who lobby for british business on each and every visit overseas we have the skilled diplomats increasingly on the ground able to interpret events spot opportunities make connections and help you develop lasting relations we have the determination to use our voice internationally to argue relentlessly for free trade and open markets and against protectionism or regulation that harms the british economy with all this in place to support british companies small and large we now have to make the most of it so that british products are known by people in brazil as well as they do in belgium in india as well as island in southeast asia as well as western europe and we have to build on the spirit of adventure determination and invention that our country has always possessed on which our success has been founded for so long and without which no nation can succeed in the decades to come as you do these things british ministers and diplomats will be urging you on backing you up opening your way and fighting your corner in his speech to the foreign office so roger put it very well he said there is no doubt for business to be successful in an increasingly competitive world it needs more courage more effort and more support than ever before so the good news tonight is that you have a government that is determined to give you that support and we look forward to working with you to bring the further success and prosperity that is within the reach of our country our businesses and our people thank you very much indeed