UAE businesses interested in investing in Britain are to be offered guidance about where to channel their money.
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), an agency of the United Kingdom’s government, has traditionally been focused on supporting British companies keen to enter the Emirates.
But its remit has now been widened to support UAE firms keen on investing in the UK.
“The UK is seen as an excellent place for real estate investment. What we want to do is widen the scope of opportunity to show that the UK is also at the cutting edge of technology, research and innovation,” said Edward Hobart, the consul general at the British Embassy in Dubai.
“With the investment team in place, these opportunities will come to the fore and investors from the UAE will be able to select from a wide offering of investments which best fit their businesses.”
The governments of both Britain and the UAE have vowed to try to raise bilateral trade to £12 billion (Dh72bn) by 2015.
To help to achieve that target, UKTI has brought the professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers on board to advise companies keen on the British market. It will provide expertise across a range of areas including innovation, green technology and the setting up of European headquarters in the country.
Commercial ties between the two countries have accelerated this year with the Dubai-based DP World opening London Gateway, a £1.5bn port that is expected to create 27,000 jobs in Britain’s capital as well as England’s South East, and Masdar inaugurating the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the Thames estuary.
Lord Green, Britain’s minister for trade and investment, said earlier this year that the UK was planning to set up two business centres in the UAE to support joint investment and commerce.
tarnold@thenational.ae
