Britain has approached the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf ctoountries on a possible trade pact after Britain leaves the EU, the UAE economy minister said on Monday.
Speaking on a panel at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Sultan Saeed al-Mansouri said such agreements can take years to negotiate.
He gave no further details.
Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but it has yet to find an agreement acceptable to both Brussels and UK lawmakers, raising the prospect of a disorderly exit that could damage the world’s fifth-largest economy.
The UK was “looking forward’’ to a free-trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
Liam Fox, the UK state secretary for international trade, said during a visit to Dubai for the summit, according to state news agency WAM.
The GCC comprises the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.
In 2017, trade between the UAE and UK totalled 17.5 billion British pounds, up 12.3 per cent from 2016, according to official figures.
By 2020, the UK government wants that number to increase to about 25 billion pounds.
