TOPIC: The Benefits of Freeports

Freeports offer various tax and customs reliefs, simplified import and export procedures, enhanced trade promotion, and additional support for innovation, increasing their attractiveness to both domestic and international businesses.

Hear from the Essex based Freeports, Thames Freeport and Freeport East, along with our BDO Custom Duties Specialist and the British Chambers of Commerce's Head of Trade Policy, to discuss the benefits of Freeports.

Meet our panellists

Martin Whiteley - CEO of Thames Freeport
Martin Whiteley is Chief Executive of Thames Freeport - an initiative with the potential to create over 21,000 new jobs and attract over £4.5bn of inward investment. It is one of the biggest regeneration and levelling up programmes in Essex and London.  

Martin has a background as a leader in both the public and private sectors, and in delivery of strategic programmes. He has worked in commercial organisations, and in central and local government, providing a rounded blend of experience.

Before joining Thames Freeport, Martin was the Growth Programme Director for the South Essex Local Authorities and has a good understanding of the region and local area.

Prior to that, Martin worked In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, attracting over £1.2bn of new investment into the area and established a new Combined Authority, becoming its first Chief Executive.

Martin has over 25 years’ experience as a management consultant. He was the Managing Director of Capita’s Consulting Business and Chief Executive of Blue Marble Group Ltd.

Steve Beel - CEO of Freeport East
Steve Beel is Chief Executive at Freeport East, one of eight Freeports across England established by the UK Government. Freeport East aspires to be the UK’s leading Centre for global trade, green energy, innovation and application of digital technology.

Steve has over 20 years’ experience across energy & infrastructure, international diplomacy, economic development & trade. Prior to his appointment at Freeport East, Steve was a British Diplomat working for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Zambia. As the UK’s Development Director and Deputy High Commissioner, he led the UK’s development partnership with Zambia in areas ranging from education to clean energy, infrastructure to health, as well as spearheading a new Green Growth framework which has delivered significant increases in bilateral trade and green investment.

Prior to this Steve worked at Ofgem as a Commercial Director where he was involved in many of the UK’s largest offshore wind and electricity interconnector projects, and before that at Hutchison Whampoa and PwC.

Juliet Wallwork - Customs Duties Director at BDO
Juliet is a Customs Duty Director in the Indirect Tax team at BDO UK LLP. She has over 20 years’ experience in customs, excise and international trade matters. She trained and worked for a number of years in the Big 4, based both in the UK and the Far East.

In the course of her career, Juliet has worked across all industry sectors, advising clients ranging in size from owner managed business' and SME's to global FTSE 100 multi national corporations.

Juliet focuses on providing practical, bespoke customs advisory and compliance services to her clients.  She takes a holistic approach to understand her clients supply chain and their customs needs and requirements, in order to deliver effective, pragmatic and workable solutions.

Whilst experienced in all industry sectors, Juliet's primary focus is the manufacturing sector.  She frequently works with client's in this sector to introduce efficiencies and cost savings and raise the compliance benchmark to meet HMRC' requirements.  Her support typically incorporates several areas, such as: systems, controls frameworks and procedures, duty reduction measures, process efficiencies such as data analytics usage, customs training and of course customs technical advice.  In relation to the latter, Juliet has many years and experience of advising on valuation, origin and classification issues.

William Bain - Head of Trade Policy for the British Chambers of Commerce
William Bain is Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce. William has worked for the last 7 years with a range of companies, from global retailers to SMEs to innovative start-ups, advising on EU exit, the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, and the UK’s new trade and investment policies.
 
Previously, William spent over ten years as an academic lawyer specialising in Constitutional and EU law, and 5 and a half years as an MP (Glasgow North East), including roles as Shadow Ministers for Defra, Transport and Scotland and membership of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee. 

 

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