Strengthening Scotland’s Nordic ties

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will officially open the Scottish Government’s Nordic Office in Copenhagen today.

The office will unlock new economic and trading opportunities by increasing Scotland's cultural and economic visibility across the Nordic region.

The combined inward investment from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden puts the Nordic region in the top five of inward investment sources for Scotland, and three of the top 20 destinations for exports, with £2.6 billion of goods and services exported to these countries by Scottish businesses in 2019.

The First Minister will undertake a range of trade, investment and policy engagements while in Copenhagen and discuss the countries’ shared ambitions and opportunities for closer collaboration.

This will include a roundtable with business and energy leaders at State of Green to discuss how Scotland and the Nordic regions can work together to accelerate decarbonisation and share expertise, and meeting with Foreign Minister of Denmark Jeppe Kofod.

The First Minister will also visit UNICEF’s Global Supply Hub in Copenhagen -  the largest humanitarian warehouse in the world - to see the assembly and dispatch of life-saving supplies for children and families in Ukraine. The Scottish Government has provided £1m of funding to UNICEF since the start of the war.

The First Minister said:

“We have a centuries-long partnership with countries in the Nordic region and cultural, social and linguistic traces of our shared history and heritage can be found across Scotland.

“To this day, we have much in common with similar population sizes, dynamic cities, and large rural communities. We are nations of innovators that share the same ambition to accelerate decarbonisation, and we continue to work closely to exchange expertise on renewable energy technologies and sustainable economic development.

“This office will support that ambition and build on the strong ties that already exist between us by promoting investment, trade and economic opportunities to benefit people and businesses across our countries.

Background

The Nordic office is co-located with Scottish Development International within the British Embassy Copenhagen.

Work to attract investment by the Scottish Government offices both at home and overseas has helped increase foreign direct investment into Scotland by 14% in 2021, compared to 5.4% across Europe, and just 1.4% across the UK as a whole, according to EY’s 2022 Attractiveness Survey.

SDI statistics published in May 2022 also revealed more than 7,500 planned real living wage jobs had been generated by inward investment in 2021/22, with 113 investment projects in Scotland supported, 39 of which were investors locating in the country for the first time.

The establishment of the Nordic Office means that Scotland is now served by a network of nine international offices, which have worked to promote Scottish interests and strengthen relationships with countries and continents around the world since the 1992 establishment of Scotland Europa in Brussels.