MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR UK - UAE PARTNERSHIPS, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TELLS OXFORD BUSINESS GROUP

The UAE-UK Business Council has begun working towards an “ambitious” new goal of £25bn annual trade by 2020, according to David Cameron the British prime minister.

Cameron told the global publishing, research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) that the new trade target was set after the council reached its earlier objective of £12bn annual trade two years ahead of schedule.

“Trade between the Gulf and the UK was worth $33bn in 2014 – more than our trade with India or China,” the UK’s prime minister said. “The UAE is our 14th biggest export market. The Gulf’s prosperity is also our prosperity.”

Cameron’s full article on UK-UAE relations will appear in OBG’s forthcoming reports on Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Both publications will contain detailed, sector-by-sector guides to each emirate for investors, alongside contributions from leading personalities.

The UK prime minister highlighted the key role that the UK had played in supporting the UAE’s fast-paced development, while also pointing to the emirates’ significant investment in British initiatives, such as infrastructure.

“British businesses, institutions and individuals have contributed a huge amount to the extraordinary development of the UAE into the increasingly diversified hub which it has become. And the UAE has become an increasingly important investor in the UK.” he noted.

Cameron said there were many opportunities for future partnerships between the UK and the emirates. He also highlighted the importance of joint efforts on a regional level to combat terrorism, describing Gulf security and British security as “intimately linked”.

“It would be foolish to deny the challenges which confront the UK and the Gulf – the security threats, the oil price, headwinds in the major emerging economies,” Cameron told OBG. “But these are challenges which we can meet together, and from which we can create opportunities.”

Oxford Business Group’s reports on Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be a vital guide to the many facets of the emirates, including their macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking and other sectoral developments. The reports will be available in print and online.