University News Last updated 25 May 2018
Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox will be the keynote speaker at a major transatlantic business conference taking place at Birmingham City University next month.
The MP will speak at the British American Business Council (BABC) Annual Transatlantic Conference which is being held on Thursday 7 June in the University’s new £57 million Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
The event will welcome delegates from all over Britain and North America as businesses in the UK city, led by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) and supported by Birmingham City University, seek new markets in the post-Brexit era.
The event will feature speakers from politics, business, economics and other sectors including Chief Economist for financial services firm RSM, Joseph Brusuelas.
Midlands Chapter
The BABC conference follows the success of Birmingham’s high-profile presence at last year’s event in Chicago when the Midlands Chapter of the BABC received wide praise for sending the biggest delegation from a single city, as well as demonstrating the significant level of interest in transatlantic trade that exists in the Midlands.
"We are tremendously proud to have won the right to stage this important conference. It is vital that as a city and a country we explore new markets for the post-Brexit era and the BABC can play a vital role."
"Each year, the conference brings together members of its chapters to its annual transatlantic business conference for a programme of high level business discussions and networking among senior executives from a broad cross-section of business sectors who are actively engaged in transatlantic business."
US Ambassador
The main conference at Birmingham City University will be followed by a Gala Dinner at Birmingham Town Hall, which will welcome the United States Ambassador to the UK, Robert Wood Johnson. 
Russell Jeans, chief operating officer at GBCC, said:
“We are hugely privileged to have the Ambassador attending the conference. This underscores the huge economic importance of our bilateral relationship with the US both now and in the future.”
The conference is a highly sought after occasion. The event has previously been held in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC and Chicago.
Prior to the Annual Transatlantic event, the British American Group of Lawyers Conference will take place in the city on Wednesday 6 June, as well as a cocktail party and opening reception.
The BABC Midlands chapter, a section GBCC, is part of the largest transatlantic business network, with 22 chapters and 2,000 member companies, including many of the world’s largest multinationals, based in major business centres throughout North America and the UK.