Chamber and committees

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work visited the United States between 4 and 7 April, attending events and meetings in New Jersey and New York. The visit focused on promoting trade and investment, culture, heritage, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as engagement with the diaspora network. The visit also marked the 20 th anniversary of Tartan Day in New York.

The relationship between Scotland and America is an important one with deep and long-standing ties reflected by the strong economic, cultural and personal links of our citizens. The US is Scotland’s top source of inward investment, accounting for 35% of projects and is Scotland’s second largest export partner - worth £4.6 billion or 15.9% of all international exports.

Beginning his engagements in Princeton, New Jersey, the Cabinet Secretary attended the Offshore Wind Partnering Forum, meeting senior stakeholders including industry leaders and new and existing global investors in the Scottish renewables sector. Mr Brown emphasised the Scottish Government’s commitment to the future of the industry in Scotland and took the opportunity to support and endorse the Scottish offshore wind community as they built new business opportunities at this key industry partnering event.

The Cabinet Secretary moved on to New York for the pre-launch of Scotland Is Now, the new national brand for Scotland to encourage people to live, work, invest, study and visit Scotland. The preview event was held in partnership with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), one of America’s most prominent broadcast networks at the iconic Roxy Hotel Cinema in New York.

During the event, the audience were shown a preview of the new Scotland Is Now brand film. Additionally, WNBC host Dave Price chaired a panel discussion on Scotland and the Scotland Is Now campaign. Mr Brown was part of this panel and answered questions from the audience, supporting the new campaign and affirming Scotland’s position as a pioneering, progressive, dynamic and inclusive nation.

On 5 April, the Cabinet Secretary hosted an ‘Invest in Scotland’ business breakfast for potential capital investors from the New York financial community and spoke about the opportunities for investment in Scotland’s key infrastructure projects. He also attended a networking lunch hosted by Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) which allowed him to meet with potential trade and investment partners in the financial services community. He also took the opportunity to recognise ASI as a globally successful financial services firm headquartered in Scotland and engaged with senior members of the ASI team.

In addition to networking with capital investors, the Cabinet Secretary also held meetings with key stakeholders from the oil and gas, transport, technology and life sciences sectors to further promote trade and investment in Scotland.

This included a meeting with the Vice President of JetBlue where the possibility of new routes to Scotland was discussed. Further meetings included engagements with new and existing investors across a range of sectors including energy (BluHaptics and the MerGroup), life sciences (LEIDOS and Orthosensor) and technology (IBM) where Mr Brown had the opportunity to discuss opportunities for Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary also spoke at the reception held by the St Andrew’s Society of New York which was held to celebrate the 20 th anniversary of Tartan Day. He took the opportunity to thank the St Andrews Society for their charitable work and support for Scottish culture and history. Mr Brown also welcomed diaspora groups to a breakfast commemorating the anniversary. He thanked the groups for their support of Tartan Day over the last 20 years, in addition to their promotion of Scotland and Scottish values more generally.

Mr Brown also met with the President of the World Fair Trade Organisation, Dr Rudi Dalvai and creator of the World Fair Trade Tartan, Tania Pramschufer. The Cabinet Secretary expressed his pride in Scotland’s status as a Fair Trade Nation and affirmed his support for the World Fair Trade Tartan’s efforts to make new trade contacts in the North American market.

The American-Scottish Foundation, a key Diaspora group in New York City, held an event to celebrate National Tartan Day and to commemorate the Declaration of Arbroath. The Cabinet Secretary spoke at this event to acknowledge the bonds of kinship and friendship between Scotland and the USA.

An event supported by Universities Scotland then brought together influential alumni from Scottish universities based in the greater New York area. Mr Brown gave a speech promoting Scotland as a great place to visit, work, study and invest.

The visit culminated in the celebration of the 20 th anniversary of Tartan Day in New York. During the day of celebrations, the Cabinet Secretary met veteran volunteers of the Tartan Day parade to thank them for their service, attended the Kirkin’ of the Tartan and joined the march for the Tartan Day parade. He also took the opportunity to meet Sgoil Lionacleit Pipe Band, a youth pipe band visiting New York to participate in Tartan Day.