Arab News, Saturday, Oct 9, 2021 | Rabi Al-Awwal 3, 1443
Britain looks to Gulf countries for new trade deal
Saudi Arabia:
Britain will on Friday take
its first step toward trade negotiations with the six-country Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), asking British businesses what they want an agreement to cover.
Trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan is targeting a deal with the GCC — Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain — as she looks
to build new ties around the world following Britain’s exit from the European
Union.
On Friday, Trevelyan will launch a 14-week consultation, calling on the public
and businesses to share their views on what a deal should look like. She will
also meet representatives of the GCC in London.
“We want a modern, comprehensive agreement that breaks down trade barriers to a
huge food and drink market and in areas like digital trade and renewable energy
which will deliver well-paid jobs in all parts of the UK,” she said in a
statement.
A deal would be an advance on the relations Britain had as an EU member: The EU
meets the GCC annually to build economic cooperation and develop closer trade
and investment ties, but 18-year negotiations over a trade deal stalled in 2008.
The GCC has not implemented a free trade deal since 2015 and Britain did not set
out a timetable for negotiations.
Britain already has close strategic and military ties with the gulf countries,
and trade with the region was worth more than 30 billion pounds in 2020.