A CAMPAIGN to boost exporting across the region looks set to go international itself after attracting observers from overseas.

Two delegates from the Saudi Export Programme based in Riyadh attended the latest We Are International networking event hosted by the Leeds City Region Economic Partnership, of which York is a member.

The two, Ziad A Alsabbaly and Talal S AlSalem, from The Saudi Fund for Development, which offers financial support for Saudi businesses wishing to export, took part in the two-hour event attended by more than 100 novice exporters and chatted with export advisers from UKTI and Chamber International.

Ziad A Alsabbaly said: “We’re grateful to have been able to attend and be made so welcome.

"An email about the We Are International initiative came to us and we asked if we could come to observe as it is such an interesting idea.

“Our work is mainly to do with helping to get funds out to Saudi businesses which want to export and we will take what we have experienced back to Riyadh with a view to replicating elements of this campaign there.”

The latest We Are International event, which was the fourth since March 2013, focused on grants, funding and no-charge assistance for exporters.

The We are International initiative, which is delivered by the partnership with international trade specialists Chamber International, UKTI Yorkshire and Humber, Enterprise Europe Yorkshire, MY Export Hub and Yorkshire Universities, aims to add £1.6 billion to the City Region economy and create thousands of jobs during the next five years.

Leeds City Region is the largest economic area in the country outside London, covering the 10 local authority areas of, Barnsley Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York.