Background

The UK-ASEAN Business Council (UKABC) is delighted to host Sam Myers, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to a roundtable discussion with UKABC partners.

The conversation will focus on the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) priority areas for Southeast Asia as well as what to watch out for in the year ahead. UK- ASEAN two-way trade is now at an all-time high of £42 billion which the UK is looking to grow as it charts an independent trading policy and develops its Indo-Pacific strategy.

In February, the UK formally asked to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP). UK trade with the 11 economies of the CPTPP was worth £111 billion in 2019, growing by 8% a year since 2016. Benefits for UK businesses include modern digital trade rules, faster tariff elimination, conducive rules of origin and easier business travel. It will also provide opportunities for business in renewable energy as member states commit to working together on energy transition as well as transport and low-emission technologies.

The roundtable will also discuss COP26 and highlight the efforts underway to encourage ASEAN Members States and businesses to sign up to the Race to Zero. In addition to COP26, the UK is also chair of the G7 and will be looking at supply chain issues – a concern shared by ASEAN as the region seeks to create resilient supply chains post Covid19.

This event is for UKABC partners. To find out more about partnership opportunities contact ken.wells@ukabc.org.uk.

Programme

9.00 Welcome Remarks by Baroness Neville-Rolfe DME CMG, Chair, UK-ASEAN Business Council

9.00 Partner Conversation with Sam Myers, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific

Chaired by Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, Chair, UK-ASEAN Business Council

10.00 Roundtable Concludes

Biography

Sam Myers – Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner, Asia Pacific

Sam is responsible for the UK’s trade and investment relationships across the Asia Pacific region, based in Singapore and covering Natalie Black’s maternity leave. He leads a team of over 200 staff working in British Embassies and High Commissions to support UK businesses. He joined the UK’s Department for International Trade in April 2019, where he was Deputy HM Trade Commissioner for Southeast Asia.

Before joining DIT, Sam worked for the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, where he was head of UK Science Policy and Relations. Sam’s Civil Service career began in 2001 as a graduate FastStreamer in the Department for Trade and Industry, where he ran a Minister’s Private Office before becoming the Head of External Relations for the Department. He spent 6 years in Asia with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, boosting science and technology partnerships with Southeast Asia and China. Sam’s structural biology research at Mount Sinai, New York, was published in the journal Science and he has a Masters in Biochemistry from the University of Bath.

Further reading

UK makes ASEAN ‘high priority’ for post-Brexit trade deals. Nikkei Asia

UK will not compromise values for trade in ‘critical’ Indo-Pacific. Nikkei Asia

Global Britain in a Competitive Age: the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. Gov.UK

UK applies to join huge Pacific free trade area CPTPP. Gov.UK

UK-ASEAN factsheet. Gov.UK