Minister to speak at festival of manufacturing

Jeremy Browne, the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is the latest guest speaker to be announced for the Global Manufacturing Festival.

Liberal Democrat Mr Browne, who has also been Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has worked in the private sector in finance and global communications.

He will speak to more than 400 delegates at the festival’s convention and trade show which will take place in Sheffield City Hall on March 22.

In October last year, the Government was forced to deny that it had made a U-turn after revealing that it was offering a loan to steel firm Sheffield Forgemasters as part of a jobs-boosting pack- age.

At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denied there had been any change of heart when he revealed a proposed loan of as much as £36m for Sheffield Forgemasters, a company that had been controversially refused an £80m loan in 2010.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Lee Hopley, the chief economist at EEF, had also been added to the list of speakers for the manufacturing festival which includes Ric Parker from Rolls-Royce, Dr Alan McLelland from NAMTEC, Alan Cumming of EDF Energy, Andrew Peters from Siemens Drive Technologies and Sir Chris O’Donnell, the former chief executive of Smith & Nephew.

The all-day event will also include presentations from Sheffield Forgemasters International and JRI Orthopaedics.

Talks are also being held with potential delegates from a number of countries to support the long-term business relationships Sheffield is building with companies in the Ukraine, China, France, Brazil, Columbia, Rwanda, India and the USA.

The Global Manufacturing Festival will take place in Sheffield for the second consecutive year and will run over March 21 and 22.

The festival is being organised by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Marketing Sheffield.

Richard Wright, executive director of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are very keen to see the convention provide a global market place for high-end manufacturers.

“We want to highlight the international opportunities available to businesses in the UK and how they can exploit them to support sustainable growth.

“Our International Trade Centre (SYITC) has been working with UKTI to attract buyers from key countries around the world, which will ensure the festival can be a platform for business to be done.”

For more information follow on twitter @GMFSheffield or visit www.globalmanufacturingfestival.com