Holyrood to scrutinise trade group

THE role of Scottish Development International (SDI) in bringing business to Scotland will come under scrutiny in a Holyrood inquiry into international trade.

Holyrood's economy, energy and tourism committee is to examine how the public sector can help Scottish companies make the most of trading with foreign countries to help them beat the recession.

The announcement comes months after the trade agency was criticised by a different Holyrood committee for not doing enough to boost the "visibility" of Scotland in China, despite having a full-time office in the country.

The vice-convener of the committee yesterday confirmed that the performance of SDI would be examined.

The SNP's Rob Gibson MSP said: "It has been our intention to look at how SDI are performing, because we will be going on to look at how the enterprise networks are performing.

"We need to get a sight of how SDI is performing and where we could be stronger."

The Scottish whisky industry is also likely to be on the agenda of the inquiry, which is expected to report by the summer, with subsequent debate likely to be held in the next parliamentary session.