INTERVIEW-UK trade minister says not worried about weak pound

HONG KONG, April 17 - British Trade and Investment Minister Mervyn Davies said on Friday he is not worried about a further slide in the pound <GBP=>, while saying a weak currency will help drive the British economy out of recession.

"When it comes to the state of the pound, obviously now we have a huge exporting opportunity," he told Reuters in an interview.

Asked if he was worried about a further decline in the currency, Davies said:

"No. The currency markets are the currency markets."

Export competitiveness would help drive the British economy out of recession, he said, even though recovery was not imminent.

"If you're an exporter this is a great time to export because of the state of the pound," he said. "Tourism is up. There is global demand, it's all relative, it's just come down."

Davies said he had seen evidence of very strong forward order books in certain sectors of the British economy while travelling around the country in the past month.

"It doesn't mean to say we're going to suddenly bounce back, the world is having a difficult time," he said.

"In the short-term clearly we've got challenges around employment, challenges around public borrowing requirements," Davies said.

"But I think people are talking down the UK too much and the reality of the UK is that it's an economy that has changed significantly and has got very good market position in a range of industries." (Reporting by Susan Fenton; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)