Asia House launches a series of programmes on Brexit

Asia House has launched a series of programmes on Brexit to advise and inform members on the way to navigate the extraordinary shift in the economic and political landscape.

As the UK grapples to find a new way forward with the EU, attention will look to Asia, with talk of potential trade deals. Equally, Asian organisations with interests in the UK are reassessing their positions as the UK look set for a period of economic uncertainty and may no longer be able to claim to be a gateway to Europe.

Asia House is uniquely placed to engage companies and officials on policy, in particularly on trade and investment. Leveraging its extensive network among policy makers and business leaders, Asia House seeks to bring clarity to the complex issues raised by the Brexit decision.

Next week on Wednesday, 20 July Asian Ambassadors will shed light on potential future trade agreements with Asia in the light of Brexit at a private briefing for Asia House corporate members.

The following week on 28 July experts including Catherine Barnard, Professor in European Union Law and Employment Law, University of Cambridge, will discuss the implications of Brexit for business. This event is by invitation only.

The Asia House Brexit Series was opened on Thursday, 7 July with a packed private briefing by Lord Mandelson, Former European Trade Commissioner and Chairman of Global Counsel LLP on Thursday, 7 July. Topics discussed at the briefing, which was only open to corporate members, included the key issues the UK would face in a post Brexit landscape, in particular the likelihood of the UK being able to negotiate free trade agreements with other countries. To read the story click here.

Lord Mandelson was a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign and in October 2015 spoke at Asia House about the difficulties of renegotiating trade deals in the event of a Brexit.

Jeremy Browne, Special Representative for the City of London Corporation to the European Union, joined Asia House corporate members and selected participants on Friday 15 July to discuss the potential consequences of  Brexit at another packed briefing. Theresa May’s foreign policy and focus; the new Brexit unit being set up in the civil service; the strategy the UK should adopt post-Brexit in negotiations regarding trade agreements; the reaction in Europe and the timetable of Brexit, were among the topics discussed. To read the story click here.

Further briefings and seminars with decision makers and experts are planned for the coming months, which will look at issues ranging from new free trade agreements with Asia and the politics and mechanics of negotiating them to investment strategies during what looks certain to be a long period of uncertainty.

To see confirmed events in the series click here. More events will continue to be added.