Alex Salmond booked for Brave premiere

Published on 03/06/2012 00:00

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond is to attend the world premier of Brave, the animated film set in a mythical version of Scotland, on his tour of the US west coast later this month.

Salmond will see the first showing of the Disney-Pixar venture, which stars Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald, when he visits California to try to drum up tourism and business investment.

He said: “The US offers huge potential, and Scotland and Scottish companies are ideally placed to take advantage of the outstanding opportunities that are available. The animation film Brave, for example, is expected to boost the Scottish economy by £140 million, and the unique collaboration between Disney-Pixar and VisitScotland to showcase Scotland across the world is a fantastic example of maximising economic benefit from the strength of our nation’s global brand.”

In Sacramento, Salmond will meet Californian politicians to promote the Scottish economy. He will also deliver a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, described as the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the US.

Other speakers include Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The First Minister will visit Stanford University to see a venture between the institution and Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt, St Andrews and Glasgow universities.