Dubai: The UAE is set to invest Dh7.22 billion in British renewable energy projects, according to a senior UK government official.
Speaking to state news agency WAM, Baroness Rona Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion at the Department for International Trade (DIT), said that Brexit would help the UK pursue a more open economic policy.
As a result of last year’s referendum to leave the European Union, the UK was “accelerating relations with more countries around the world,” Fairhead said, adding that she was “working extremely well with the UAE across multiple investment domains, particularly in areas of research and development (R&D), clean energy and new technologies.”
The Minister was talking to WAM on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec), which opened in the UAE capital on Monday.
“The UAE is UK’s 4th largest partner outside Europe. You come only next to US, China and India, which means that the UAE is a very significant partner for us. Over the coming period, we will build on our strengths and continue our investments, improving efficiency and investing heavily in new technologies. We will share technology,” she said.
“More importantly, we have a lot of people here. We have more than 120,000 UK nationals in the UAE, and more than 6,000 UK companies operating in the country, which means a good basis, but more needs to be done,” the minister added.
British exports to the UAE cover a wide spectrum of sectors, including telecommunications, power generation machinery and equipment, electrical goods, transport, office machinery, interior and retail goods and non-metallic mineral manufacturing.
