This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Minister addresses major business conference
23/01/2003
Leading business leaders from around the world were told today that the Executive is committed to delivering on its economic strategy and positioning Scotland as a modern, dynamic economy.
The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Iain Gray was speaking at 'A Competitive Strategy for Competitive Business' - a major conference held today in Edinburgh's International Conference Centre. The keynote speaker at the event was Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School - a world renowned business strategist.
In his opening address to the conference - which was attended by more than 500 people from Europe, Asia and North America - the Minister said:
"Since devolution, it has been made crystal clear to Ministers that Scotland's past approach to economic development had really lacked a hard analysis of where Scotland's position lay in relation to the rest of the world, and indeed, where the rest of the world was going.
"The powers that devolution brought to the Scottish Executive meant that the time was right to have a hard think about economic development in Scotland, where we wanted our economy to go and how to get there.
"Our economic strategy Smart, Successful Scotland is the end result of this process. Now that we have a clear approach and fully understand not only our position in a global context but also where we want to take our economy, the challenge is to start delivering on our vision.
"Strategy is already leading through to action - and this action is not just about implementing Smart, Successful Scotland. It is also about acting on the wider areas which the business community has told us are crucial to the development of the Scottish economy. In September's spending review we announced unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure and underlined our commitment to investing in Scotland's key asset - the skills and innovative qualities of our people."
The Minister continued:
"Our objective is a competitive economy based on advantages - _ in attitudes, skills and innovation. Devolution in Scotland has provided us with the tools we need to build on existing advantage and achieve more. Please be clear our objective is long term economic success. I hope we can work together to achieve that."