Meanwhile in the North East clients that invest continue to prosper. GT Engineering has won more work from Russia. It has secured a £50m contract with Russia’s leading automotive manufacturer, which will enhance significant growth over the next five years. GT, now established as world leaders in this field, has landed a contract to supply exhaust gas control systems for a new range of heavy duty diesel engines to GAZ Group in Russia.
The contract will help GT Group, which currently employs 300 people, to achieve its ambitious growth programme of increasing its workforce to 500 in the next three years. The Prime Minister is visiting Russia later in the year and GT's founder has written to him to tell him how the relationship can pay off.
Finally, we want to be working with the new Local Enterprise Partnerships throughout the North. I organised a number of events, via clients, to enage with local communities. These have taken the form of 'Question Time' style panels. We asked our clients to help pay for them and invited the LEP along. We've done this in Leeds, Darlington and Redcar. Hundreds of businesses have attended the three events. Look at the video to get a taste of the format.
