The new civil service head of the government’s trade profession has claimed that a series of post-Brexit trade deals will help make the world a safer place.
In a newspaper article to mark the start of his first week as chief trade negotiation adviser at the Department for International Trade, Crawford Falconer said that there is a "powerful political and security element" to Britain's future trade deals.
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Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the New Zealander, who will also lead the development of the new trade profession in the civil service as the department’s second permanent secretary, said a more liberal trade policy would help make the world a safer place.
“History is littered with instances of the destructive political consequences of closed markets," he writes.
"This was a lesson well understood at the end of the last century’s global conflicts. It was at the core of the post-war global order.”
Falconer, who previously worked as New Zealand's ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, said other countries share the UK's desire to open up new markets and remove barriers to trade.
“Many countries still recognise that open trade policies directed at engaging with others are at the core of any strategy to improve the global prospects for political openness and stability.
"They are already looking to partner with us to re-energise that agenda.”