Strategy for the international environment

Oxfordshire needs to promote itself internationally, and can do so through further exploitation of its many existing international links

The UK remains behind on productivity performance. In 2004, measured by GDP per worker, the UK was behind that of the average of all other G7 countries. In 2005, the Office for National Statistics stated that the USA continues to be the productivity leader, with productivity 24% above that of the UK.

The South East performs well in prosperity terms relative to other UK regions, as does Oxfordshire within the South East, but compared to international leaders, the South East region ranks 34 out of 40 highperforming global regions, and more than 50% below the best performing European regions. This is worrying, in light of the huge challenges posed by the emerging economies of Russia and Brazil, and the growing economies of China and India. Combined, the economies of China and India are projected to achieve a 50% share of world manufacturing output by 2020.

Oxfordshire needs to promote itself internationally, and can do so through further exploitation of its many existing international links, and raising the awareness of its expertise and opportunities, and overcoming some of its natural reticence to promote itself. As a result, the major concerns of the Strategy for the international environment are:

• Promoting Oxfordshire.
• Developing and exploiting international links.