Bradley Jones is sat outside a London café as a mere trickle of office workers spills out into the summer sun. After all, things have changed somewhat since Brits were last permitted to attend face-to-face meetings. But few people will be more pleased about the impending post-pandemic freedoms than Jones – a seasoned diplomat and executive director at the newly revamped UK-UAE business council.
As the pandemic swept the globe and airports were shuttered, trade relations between long-standing allies Britain and the UAE were pummelled. As it stands, the Emirates have languished on the UK’s travel ‘red list’ since late January – costing Britain millions of pounds a week in lost trade according to the British Travel Association (BTA). But as the UK opens up to double-jabbed visitors from the EU and the US, there is reason to hope that the UAE could be next in line for green list status.
Bradley Jones, executive director, UK–UAE Business Council.
“Everyone is keen for the red list ruling to be lifted as we want business and normal commercial engagement to start,” said Jones, adding that the virus is fast-moving and it’s challenging for policymakers to “second guess” its travel direction globally.
Jones, who has himself made use of amber-country stop-offs en route back from Dubai, admits that while both the UK and the UAE are known for their superior technology infrastructures, “it’s not the same as face-to-face – we all know how important it is to meet in person in the Emirates. When you meet face-to-face, more gets done”. But the executive director is anticipating a tidal wave of commerce as soon as the UAE red list ruling is lifted.
“Once the UK is open for the UAE, there isn’t anything the council will have to do to accelerate business, it will happen naturally,” he said. “Put simply, Brits can’t wait to get back to the UAE. It’s such an easy place to do business and so many set-up procedures are accessible online.”
The UAE is the UK’s fourth largest export market outside the EU and data from the Ministry of Economy shows that non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and UK in 2019 was valued at AED36.6 billion ($10bn).
Jones added that many British businesses have set up in the UAE in the last few months with an eye to tapping post-Covid UAE-UK trade opportunities. Business set-up company Pro Partner Group cited 60 percent like-for-like annual growth in UK businesses setting up in the Emirates in Q1 2021.
As for the UK-UAE Business Council, the bi-lateral trade organisation has been in operation for just over a decade and has more recently morphed into a serious thought leadership body.
The council, which is headed up by government heavyweights Lord Udny-Lister and Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, provides strategic advice to both governments on the interests and concerns of its member communities and the wider business society.
The council is home to a Joint Secretariat that delivers campaigns, events and working groups to help deliver the ambitions of both governments to strengthen the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
“Our organisation comes together to identify emerging trends, issues and opportunities – and we raise things at a government level if needed,” said Jones, adding that the working groups currently cover education, healthcare, energy, future tech and industry.
“These working groups have UK–UAE code shares and we task them with delivering practical outcomes over a six or nine-month period. They must be concerned with knowledge sharing and of mutual benefit to both countries,” added the executive director.
The council is working side-by-side with the UK Department of Trade and Investment to support thriving bi-lateral business in areas such as agritech, edtech, medtech, fintech and greentech.
To mark its decade-anniversary the organisation recently opened up its paid membership to SMEs and academic institutions, as well as its stalwart corporate members such as Rolls Royce and Mubadala.
As the pace of post-Brexit UK-Gulf trade investment continues to ramp up, official free trade agreements (FTAs) could be signed by the end of the year, experts have previously told Arabian Business.
The UAE committed GBP800 million to British life sciences in March through the UK’s Sovereign Investment Partnership (SIP), while Middle East trade officials have confirmed upcoming “billion dollar deals” in clean energy by the end of the year.
UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss, who is leading Britain’s global FTA programme, was in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in March to work on the UK-GCC Joint Trade and Investment Review, following the successful launch of the Egypt-UK Association Agreement in December 2020 and The Jordan-UK Association Agreement on May 1 this year.
Jones said that “non-tariff” measures will be more effective when drawing up a bi-lateral FTA.
“Tariffs are already quite low in the Gulf, so the big prizes will come in the form of loosening regulatory barriers and market access because the UAE is a fairly lightly regulated economy,” he said. “A UK–UAE deal will be much faster to implement than a GCC-wide deal. The UAE is so ambitious and keen for a deal – as is the UK.”
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