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British Business Puts Spotlight on Middle East and North Africa

Monday, 08 February 2010 18:23

Investment_and_Small_Business_Lord_Davies__UKTI-

More than 400 UK companies will find out how they can develop their export potential in dynamic Middle Eastern markets this week at UK Trade & Investment’s Partner ME events. Bilateral trade between the UK and the Middle East is worth around £35 billion per year.

Opening the event in London this morning, Minister for Trade, Investment and Small Business Lord Davies said the Middle Eastern markets were brimming with opportunity across a range of sectors from infrastructure, transport and education, to healthcare, financial services and creative industries. The UK has world-beating expertise and skills in all these sectors.

Lord Davies said: “This week’s Partner ME events are designed to offer British companies a one-stop-shop, offering advice, commercial opportunities and information about how they can develop their business potential in the Middle Eastern markets.

“The majority of companies attending ‘Partner ME’ are small to medium-sized businesses who now, more than ever, are looking to find new ways of doing business: new markets, new opportunities and new business partners.

“Most Middle East and North African markets have strong economies with ambitious growth and diversification plans. I want to ensure British business continues to be the global partner of choice across the region,” Lord Davies said.

Later this month, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson will lead a business delegation to the UAE and Qatar, and next month Lord Davies will lead a mission of SMEs to the UAE. This follows on from last year’s trade talks where the UK and UAE committed to increasing bilateral trade to £12.5 billion by 2015, a 60 per cent increase on current levels.

The Partner ME events will be held in London (today), Coventry on Wednesday (10 Feb) and Manchester on Thursday (11 Feb). UK companies will meet with UK Trade and Investment specialists from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine to find out where the business opportunities lie.

Case studies:

West Yorkshire company, Crosslee is exporting up to 10,000 hostess trolleys to the Middle East for Ramadan. The company is better known for manufacturing tumble driers but since the mid-nineties, the company has been developing sales with its wide variety of hostess trolleys all manufactured in the UK. Recent figures show that more than 85% of hostess trolley sales were exports.

Women entrepreneur, Jan Ward from Southampton set up Corrotherm International in 1992. The company specialises in supplying high grade metals for a range of industries including oil and gas, marine and aerospace. What started out as micro business working out of one room has now become a global success with offices in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Libya and a turnover of £10 million.

Global Arab Network

Extracted from "Corporate release"

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Last Updated on Monday, 08 February 2010 23:12

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