Global growth and business trust will top the agenda
The CBI today announces the line-up for its flagship annual conference, including the UK’s most influential political and business leaders.
This year’s conference theme is ‘Getting on track for global success’, which will look at how we meet the challenges of a changing global world order and debate how the UK will compete and trade with the high-growth economies of Asia, the Americas and beyond.
The conference will take place on Monday 4 November at the London Hilton Metropole, Edgware Road, and the strategic partners for the event are professional service providers EY and recruitment experts Hays.
John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said:
“As the economy continues to gather momentum we need to look beyond the recovery and make sure we are well placed to drive sustainable long-term growth in UK for decades to come.
“Large parts of Europe are still struggling to recover and its share of global output is set to fall by a third over the next 20 years, while the emerging economies of Asia and the Americas are flourishing.
“The CBI annual conference will debate how the UK will stay ahead of the game on global growth with a stellar line-up of business leaders and politicians.”
Steve Wilkinson, UK & Ireland Managing Partner, Markets at EY said:
"The world economy is in the midst of a once in a generation change.
“Post-financial crisis, questions are being raised by UK corporates about the appropriate geographical portfolio to create value from overseas investment as the barriers to success in emerging markets remain significant.
“As a result, North America and the Middle East and North Africa are increasingly being seen as relatively more attractive destinations for investment. This year’s CBI annual conference will make an important contribution to this debate."
Alistair Cox, CEO of Hays, added:
“As a strategic partner of the CBI annual conference we are pleased to be involved in an event that will drive debate and shape policy designed to maintain and build on the UK’s global competitiveness.
“As the economy shows early signs of recovery it is even more important that we look for new ways to drive this.
“We believe it is essential that companies have access to talented individuals that can meet the skills needs of their businesses and we look forward to working with the Government and CBI to ensure we avoid unnecessary skills gaps.”
CBI President Sir Michael Rake will open the conference with an address based on a new CBI flagship report, Creating a global role for Britain in a new Europe. This will be followed by a line-up of senior political leaders including; Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Republic of Poland, Jacek Rostowski, The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Ed Balls MP and later in the afternoon, Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. A senior Cabinet minister will be confirmed nearer the time.
The morning debate on Business Trust will feature business leaders whose firms have been in the media spotlight, including; Sir Philip Hampton, RBS Group Chairman, Lord Hall, Director-General BBC, Justin King, Chief Executive Sainsbury’s, Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive, Centrica and Sir Richard Olver, Chairman of BAE Systems. The panel will be chaired by Laura Kuenssberg, Business Editor of ITV News.
After lunch, Jake Humphrey, BT Sport Presenter will chair a discussion on Achieving global sporting success featuring Sir Clive Woodward OBE, when delegates will hear how one of the UK’s most successful sports coaches has made his mark internationally and continues to achieve global sporting success.
The afternoon debate on Overcoming the barriers to international growth will focus on tools to assist business in conquering high-growth markets. Dr Ian Robertson, a member of the BMW AG Board, will kickstart the discussion with a keynote speech, followed by a panel of influential business leaders featuring; Alistair Cox, CEO of Hays, Pip McCrostie, Global Vice Chair – Transaction Advisory Services for EY, Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange Group, Susanne Given, Chief Operating Officer of SuperGroup and John Cridland, Director-General of the CBI. CNBC anchor Ross Westgate will chair the debate.
