Minister Iain Stewart recently returned from the Nordic countries following a sucessful mission to grow trade links and learn about Faroese infrastructure
Scottish exports to both countries are worth more than £695 million a year alone.
In total, the UK and Denmark have a £12 billion trading relationship (imports and exports) and the figure is £881 million for the UK and Faroes.
UK Government Minister for Scotland Iain Stewart undertook a packed programme in Copenhagen and Tórshavn, including:
The Minister also discussed sanctions against Russia and the issue of Russian vessels in Faroese-UK shared fishing waters.
Minister Stewart said:
While in Copenhagen, the Minister met with Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Denmark, Emma Hopkins, and Carsten Grønbech-Jensen, Denmark’s State Secretary for European Affairs and the Arctic. He also went to the Danish Parliament to meet MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
There was also a visit to Avedøre power station, whose owner - Ørsted (Denmark’s largest power company) - has invested in the Salamander floating offshore wind project off the east coast of Scotland.
In the Faroes he met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs director Gunnar Holm-Rasmussen and Minister Magnus Rasmussen from the Ministry of Trade. Discussions included shared opportunities from the fisheries sector and access to the jointly managed Faroes/UK Special Area in the North Atlantic.
He visited Bakkafrost (the firm which owns the Scottish Salmon Company) to talk about their plans for investment in Scotland and met executives from Føroya Tele, a public telecoms company, about rural connectivity and planned investments in Orkney and Shetland.
The Minister will also met the company that runs the archipelago’s network of road tunnels to see whether it could be feasible to implement similar links between the Scottish Islands. As part of the visit he saw the world’s 2nd-longest sub-sea road tunnel and first undersea roundabout.
He said:
At Tórshavn Military Cemetery, the Minister laid a wreath and paid his respects to World War Two casualties including British sailors who lost their lives when their ships were sunk by enemy action.
In both countries last week’s visit was supported by the British Embassy in Copenhagen, part of the UK’s extensive diplomatic network.