Answer from Hansard

The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)

As we have just been discussing, increasing trade with European countries is and has been a focus of discussion between Ministers in the Department for Business and Trade and their EU counterparts. I recently met Ministers from Spain, France, Denmark, Poland and Germany, and work is under way on the first UK-EU summit, scheduled to take place on 19 May; trade and the economy will form one element of a broader agenda about our strategic partnership. Across wider Europe, we are negotiating an enhanced free trade agreement with Switzerland, which we hope will strengthen our trading relationship there.