The Minister of State for Trade Policy in the UK Department for Business and Trade Greg Hands said that Qatar and the United Kingdom enjoy an exceptionally strong and unique relationship because of the historic friendship and the economic integration between the two countries.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Greg Hands said that Qatar, as a big growing economy, producing a lot of energy needs that are important for the UK; noting that the two countries invest heavily in each other's economies, with Qatari investment in the UK reaching about 40bn pound sterling, including iconic things like Heathrow Airport, Harrods, British Airways, and iconic sort of British brands.
The British official, who is on his second visit to Qatar, noted equally increased UK investment in Qatar, particularly on the services side. "The UK is the world's second largest exporter of services. So the two economies I think fit together very, very well and the friendship is very good. I'm delighted to be here for my second visit to Qatar," he said.
The UK minister noted that the purpose of his visit was not only to further the bilateral relations between the UK and Qatar, but equally to drive forward the free trade agreement negotiations between the UK and the Gulf Co-operation Council.
Qatar has got the really important role as chair of the GCC this year. "It'd be fantastic to do the deal while Qatar is the chair of the GCC, but we still have quite a lot in this negotiation to do," he said.
Hands pointed to a round negotiation held in Riyadh in November, adding that the next round of the talks will be held in London at the end of this month. "We have still a lot of work to do on goods markets, on investment and services, and financial services. So there's still quite a bit of work to do," he noted.
On the challenges that face the free trade agreement, he said that they are normal challenges that any trade negotiation would face, explaining that 72 trade agreements have been negotiated in total, and any trade agreement has both sides have got their priorities, and both sides need to compromise.
"Sometimes you have to give away a little bit more than you wanted to give away. But ultimately trade is a win for both sides. This will grow the GCC economy by more than a billion pound per annum. We do 61bn pound worth of trade a year with the GCC. Qatar is alone about 12bn of that, about a fifth of our trade with the GCC," he said.
Greg Hands underlined his country's interest in promoting cooperation with Qatar in several fields, from agriculture through to automobiles manufacturing, as well as the UK services expertise in areas like legal architecture and project management.
He noted that Qatar is still growing in many of these areas and needs the UK expertise, so service professionals can move between the two markets easier.
He believed that trade is a massive facilitator of a closer relationship, and the GCC is one of the UK's biggest trade partners. "The UK is much bigger a trade partner for the GCC than one might expect. I think the background to doing this deal is very, very strong and will help cement all of the other important areas for UK Qatar like defence and security. We have got a lot of things going on between the two countries," he stressed.
He noted that the UK is already attracting a huge amount of Qatari investment in light of its predictable legal system, predictable regulatory system, the tax system, and the openness to foreign investment. "Since Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK, the UK has been open to foreign investment and Qatar has been a really strong investor," he said.
"I think we'd like to see more investment coming into not just London, but the rest of the country as well. I think Qatari investment into some of our companies, some of our infrastructure. The UK has got quite big infrastructure needs. I think Qatari investment into those areas I think is very well," the minister said.
Greg Hands praised the role undertaken by the State of Qatar in supplying the UK with LNG.
