THERE are just a few days before the majority SNP Government launches its grand new economic strategy, but Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing manages to squeeze in a few prosaic appointments.  While advisers and aides spend Thursday frantically putting the finishing touches to the department's master plan - ahead of its launch in Edinburgh tomorrow - Ewing nips out to address the World Plumbing Conference which opened in the capital that day.  The Loretto educated solicitor points out how these types of conventions, which attract an international audience, have put both Edinburgh and Glasgow on the map as key "business tourism" destinations.  Ewing inherited the Energy, Enterprise and Tourism brief from Jim Mather four months ago and he has made a point of getting out and about to address conferences and meet businesses across Scotland. He boasts that in July alone, he made 77 visits, making a day in parliament almost restful even if he does have to dash off to First Minister's Questions (FMQs).  although Ewing is a former small business owner himself, those visits have been crucial in getting the former Community Safety Minister up to speed with the major challenges confronting Scotland's enterprises ahead of tomorrow's big launch.  The economic strategy could not come at a more critical time. Last week saw a raft of negative data pointing to a serious slow-down in the UK economy in the third quarter of the year, including the worst monthly performance for a decade by the key services sector in august. Oil and gas production also dipped 1.5 per cent in July. The Scottish outlook is similarly bleak. The economy expanded by just 0.1 per cent in the first three months of the year compared with 0.5 per cent growth for the whole of the UK.  Ewing cautions against an over-emphaisis on statistics. His visits to businesses around the country have "given me a hugely positive picture of the economy", he says.  "There's another way to form a judgment and that's by going out and listening to and engaging with businesses and also our universities, who are increasingly playing a more important part in business in all sorts of ways."  He may also point to numerous success stories among Scottish companies - Weir Group, aggreko, Craneware and Cupid. Nevertheless, Ewing has to concede that growth drives the economy and will determine the success of his own government.  "Plainly these are difficult times," he admits before entering into the SNP's well-honed arguments about Scotland's reduced settlement from Westminster and the "mismanagement" of the economy in the past, "notably by Gordon Brown".  But the Scottish Government does have some levers at its disposal and tomorrow's strategy is designed breathe optimism into a private-sector that is struggling with a worsening macro-economic outlook and poor consumer confidence.  So what does Ewing believe will help Scotland's economy out of the doldrums and on to a firmer footing?  He argues that renewable energy, which for several years was more of a "theoretical debate", has started to translate into real jobs and investment.  ScottishPower-owner Iberdrola, Scottish & Southern Energy, Mitsubishi and Spanish firm Gamesa are among the major multi-nationals that have thrown their weight behind Scotland's burgeo