The Scottish Government is seeking to maximise the synergy between Globalscot, the international business network, and Global Friends of Scotland, a network that forges cultural, educational and business links between people in Scotland and across the world.   The connections between the two networks are to be increased for the general and comprehensive promotion of Scotland in the international arena.

Globalscot, a Scottish Enterprise network of over 900 senior business leaders is a business-focused association, designed to promote international investment in Scotland and allow Scotland to tap into business advice expertise and contacts.  It boasts an extensive range across the globe with 47 per cent based in North America, 16 per cent in Asia Pacific and 37 per cent in Europe and the Middle East.  Global Friends of Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative to promote Scotland in a more cultural sense around the world. 

The Scottish Government is now keen to extend the range and reach of these networks and refocus efforts on synergy of the two groups.
Following Salmond’s recent high-profile visit to America and active promotion of Scotland Week, this comes as another boost to Scotland’s world image and another impressive show in international grandstanding from the First Minister.

First Minister Alex Salmond said:

“Globalscot is an economic initiative and we are about to extend Globalscot to economically prominent Scots or people associated with Scotland, people who are just like us, across the water.

“We are going to do it for artists and cultural people as well, so instead of just having big business people and economists and people who have been very helpful to us in terms of planning what we are trying to do with Scotland, we are going to try and extend it to bring in the cultural and artistic range as well. So all the kind of great filmmakers - I’m told there are more Scottish film sound engineers in Hollywood than any other nationality - we are going to make sure that they have a part to play. So we are extending the range and reach of Globalscot to include the cultural and artistic sphere.”

For Holyrood magazine's 'one year on' interview with the First Minister click here.