BPMA Supports First EURIS Summit and the Creation of a European Network
As part of it membership of EURIS (European Union Relationship and Industrial Strategy), the BPMA recently attended the organisation’s first summit on Brexit.
The BPMA was represented at the event by its President, Duncan Lewis (Image: BPMA)
Representing industrial product supply sectors, which collectively account for over 25% of the UK’s total goods imports and exports, this important event saw industry associations from across Europe come together to discuss and agree a joint UK-EU industry working plan to ensure a successful Brexit for product manufacturers.
Held on the 23rd floor of the iconic Shard building, the ‘high-level’ gathering involved contributions from Government advisers and CEOs of trade bodies from across Europe, including Germany, Portugal and Sweden, as well as contributions from the UK product supply sector.
Presented in a spirit of great openness and cooperation, the interactive nature of the meeting helped to identify and cement a great deal of common ground. It also paved the way for the creation of a EURIS European Network to help deliver the best possible Brexit outcome for the industrial product supply sector across the single market.
This newly created European ‘industrial product supply’ Network will be an advisory body for the potential impacts of the changing relationship between the UK and EU; for Governments, manufacturers and the media and will be offering real solutions to the challenges presented by Brexit for the sector as well as ideas on how to maximise the opportunities that Brexit presents.
Dr Howard Porter, EURIS Chair, said, “We are delighted to be able to announce the creation of this EURIS European Network. The industrial product supply sector has come together in a constructive manner to establish a working party to deliver the best Brexit for our industry. This is an important time for our sector and we look forward to announcing the outputs of our network in the coming months”.
Steve Brambley, EURIS Vice-Chair, said “There are many areas where UK and EU industry can work together to achieve the best outcome for all of us and the EURIS European summit has been an excellent starting point for this discussion. The announcement of the creation of a European EURIS Network is an exciting development and one which EURIS members will be working closely on moving forward”.
The BPMA was represented at the event by its President, Duncan Lewis (MD of Xylem Water Solutions), its immediate Past President, Peter Reynolds (MD of Grundfos Pumps) and its CEO, Steve Schofield.
Commenting immediately after the summit, Duncan Lewis said, “I was pleased to have attended the meeting and represent the interests of the pump sector, in what is a crucial subject area for all companies, large and small. The discussions were extremely positive and seemed to be conducted without a hint of politics”. I feel sure this first event will enable some traction to be gained and enable EURIS and is European Network to make a positive contribution to the post-Brexit landscape”.
