James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
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Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » SINCE we at The Journal launched our Go Global campaign earlier this month, I've had the privilege to speak to people with some fascinating stories about doing business overseas.
Although we are one of the few parts of the country with a positive trade balance, the number and diversity of exporters in the North East is low and needs to increase if we are to trade our way out of recession.
Go Global aims to encourage more firms to export more goods and services while ending any fears of expanding abroad and showing the support available to companies in the region.
And, although its only been up and running for a few days, it's already received backing from a number of heavyweight sources.
Last week I met MP David Milliband and his side-kick for the day, Lord Puttnam - the film producing legend behind Chariots of Fire and Local Hero - who both expressed their support for the campaign. They join a list of other business and political leaders who back the campaign.
But on ground level, we are eager to hear from any businesses, large or small, about their experiences overseas.
I've spent the last two weeks getting information from the horses mouth about success and failures abroad and the do's and don't's of international business.
I now know, should I find myself in Saudi Arabia with a banquet before me, to be very careful about which hand I eat with and which I wipe my...erm...'clean myself' with.
In China, one should also be very careful where you sit in a meeting room and in Norway, make sure you take your shoes off if invited into a client's home.
If you've got any more tips about doing business overseas, or if you want to tell us about your endeavours in international markets, email me at andrew.mernin@ncjmedia.co.uk.
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