The agreements came as the Chancellor led the UK’s largest delegation to date to the Future Investment Initiative (FII).
The package includes up to £5bn in financial support from UK Export Finance for projects in Saudi Arabia that will unlock supply contracts for British suppliers, and a new Barclays regional headquarters in Riyadh.
British businesses and jobs will benefit from an $8.4 billion boost after UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves helped secure a major bilateral trade and investment package during a visit to Saudi Arabia. The package includes up to £5bn in financial support from UK Export Finance for projects in Saudi Arabia that will unlock supply contracts for UK suppliers, and a new Barclays office in Riyadh.
Other major deals include a £37 million investment from Saudi cybersecurity firm Cipher to launch its European office in London, and a £75 million investment from Saudi investors and bankers in British digital bank Vemi, according to a UK government statement.
Reeves and Saudi Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih co-chaired a roundtable on growth and investment with business leaders from the UK and Saudi Arabia, where she showcased UK investment opportunities.
The Chancellor also met her ministerial counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to accelerate progress on a trade deal between the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
He made clear that securing such trade deals is important to reversing the damage caused by past declines, including Brexit, austerity and the mini-budget, and is key to delivering more money into workers’ pockets through growth opportunities for businesses.
A trade deal with the Gulf is expected to increase trade between the two nations by 16 per cent, add £1.6 billion to the UK’s gross domestic product each year and contribute an additional £600 million to the annual wages of UK workers in the long term.
This developed from last month’s UK-Saudi Big Futures Summit in London, which concluded more than £4.1 billion in deals, creating more than 4,100 jobs in the UK and bringing the total value of two-way trade and investment to more than £10 billion in less than 18 months.
Fiber2Fashion News Desk (DS)
