British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will begin a multi-day visit to the Gulf on Sunday, his first trip to the region since taking office, seeking stronger economic and defence ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The Sheikh Zayed Mosque or the White Mosque in Abu Dhabi © Mena Today
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will begin a multi-day visit to the Gulf on Sunday, his first trip to the region since taking office, seeking stronger economic and defence ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
He will aim to boost investment and deepen defence and security partnerships, the government said in a statement on Saturday, describing the two Middle Eastern countries as "some of the UK's most vital modern-day partners."
Starmer, elected to lead the world's sixth-largest economy in July, will arrive in the UAE on Sunday, where he is due to hold talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday. He will fly to Saudi Arabia later on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Stability in the Middle East is expected to be "high up the agenda" during the visit, including the pressing need for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the urgent acceleration of aid into Gaza, the statement added.
"There is huge untapped potential in this region," said Starmer, who is aiming to secure investment from wealthy Gulf states to help fund his mission to rebuild Britain's ageing infrastructure and shift to cleaner energy.
"I will be making the case to accelerate progress on the Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement, deepen our research and development collaboration and partner on projects of the future," he added in the statement.
The government counts both the Gulf monarchies as major investors, with trade between Britain and the UAE worth 23 billion pounds ($29.3 billion) and that with Saudi Arabia estimated at 17 billion pounds.
British trade ministers visited the region in September to try to advance free trade deal talks with the GCC, which also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Such a deal is estimated to increase bilateral trade by 16% and potentially add 8.6 billion pounds a year in the long run.
Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was in Britain for a state visit earlier this week, where he was welcomed by King Charles and Starmer in a show of ceremonial pageantry. The trip ended with the two countries pledging to bolster their investment relationship.
Starmer will travel to Cyprus to meet President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday, the first bilateral visit by a British leader to the Commonwealth country in over five decades, to discuss closer cooperation on shared security challenges in the region, the statement added.
($1 = 0.7848 pounds)
Reporting by Muvija M
More than 1.5 million Muslim pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, a figure that already exceeds last year's foreign arrivals, with the pilgrimage itself not beginning until Monday.
There is a "50-50 chance" of a U.S.-Iran peace agreement, the United Arab Emirates' presidential advisor said on Friday, but stressed that any political settlement must address the root causes of instability in the region to avoid future conflict.
Iran's foreign minister met Pakistan's interior minister on Friday to discuss proposals to end the U.S.-Israeli war, Iranian media reported, with Tehran and Washington still at odds over Tehran's uranium stockpile and controls on the Strait of Hormuz.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.