Nicola Sturgeon to visit North America on trade visit

Nicola Sturgeon will visit North America next week

The visit by the First Minister was announced today as new figures revealed the US remains Scotland’s top export destination country, with an estimated £5.5 billion of exports in 2017 – up by 11.1 per cent from the previous year.

Canada continues to be a top 20 export destination worth £580 million in 2017. This will be the first visit to Canada by a First Minister in more than ten years.

Ms Sturgeon will undertake trade and culture engagements in Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, Ottawa and Toronto during the five-day visit. These include an address at Georgetown University to discuss Brexit and Scotland’s future and the launch of the Scotland is Now campaign in Canada.

The First Minister said: “Scotland has a longstanding relationship with North America across family, friendship, culture and business. The latest figures released just this week show how important our trade relationship with North America is for our economy.

“This visit will build on the existing links between our countries and provide new opportunities for us to work together.”