The second Arab-British Economic Summit kicked off this week in London with the slogan “Developing a Common Vision”, with a focus on how to reshape trade relations between the two sides in light of technological and climate change for corporate priorities.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya, the British Commissioner for Trade for the Middle East, Simon Penny, stressed the importance of trade between Great Britain and the Gulf countries, especially in light of the current economic conditions, expressing his optimism about the imminent date of conclusion of the agreement. Free trade agreement with the Gulf.
He said: “The Gulf countries and their markets are very important to the UK and today, even before the conclusion of negotiations on any free trade agreements, we are discussing whether the Gulf markets are currently the third largest market. for British exports outside the European Union, in the sense that the United States comes first, then China and then the Gulf.
He continued: “Before the pandemic, the value of each other’s business was £ 44 billion and there was a drop of around 30% during the pandemic, but we are very happy because recent numbers indicated that the value of the trade is back to around 44 billion pounds, which means we have almost reached pre-Covid levels. ” But what I find most exciting is that, although the British import market has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, what is remarkable is the increase in British imports from the Gulf countries by more than 100%. We have seen huge growth in imports from the Gulf and this underlines the importance of two-way trade. “
He also referred to the announcement in June of the start of this year’s trade talks and said: “We had the first round of talks in September and it was very positive and fruitful. Our Gulf partners were also happy. . Now we are studying everything we have achieved the first round and we are looking forward to starting the second round of talks very soon. “
He added: “Our goal is clear, that is, we would like to conclude a global agreement as much as possible and we are looking forward to reaching a deep, ambitious and modern agreement with the Gulf. The Gulf countries share this goal. There is no difference in the objectives, so we are very optimistic that we will quickly overcome the differences and hope to sign the agreement soon .. the question is more a matter of the content of the agreement than of speed of its implementation, as we do not have a precise date because we are at ‘start of the journey ”.
The British Trade Commissioner revealed that the sectors that are being focused on include health, education and financial services technology. He said: “These sectors called the Fourth Industrial Revolution are sectors in which no single country is superior to the others, so the best part is that we are working to develop these sectors in collaboration with our Gulf partners, and I believe that the free agreement trade will accelerate this cooperation and coordination between the countries concerned, and we are working together to develop the sectors of the future, so the free trade agreement is very fruitful, for example, it will accelerate the field of studies and development and improve the rights of intellectual property and these files are very important for new industries, as well as for clean energy and sustainable and renewable energy, and our Gulf partners are at the forefront of these files and we look forward to the future together.
He also indicated that Gulf countries are investing long-term in Britain and there is no indication that this view has changed, adding: “We have signed several investment partnerships with the UAE, Qatar and Oman over the past year, but the indicators indicate that these partnerships are long-term because these sectors remain and the political situation will not change, and we will see the growth of these sectors and our Gulf partners agree to invest in these sectors in the future. “
