An adviser to Theresa May, the UK’s next prime minister, has called for Britain to increase trade with countries such as the UAE.
David Davis, a Conservative Party MP, wants free trade agreements to be negotiated with Britain’s biggest trading partners, such as the UAE, he wrote on the party’s blog, Conservativehome.com.
Mr Davis is likely to take a position in the cabinet after Ms May takes over from David Cameron, who resigned after last month’s vote to leave the European Union.
As a member of the EU, the UK depended on a 28-nation compromise for deals, which Mr Davis called “clumsy” negotiating.
“That is why we currently only have trade deals with two of our top 10 non-EU trading partners,” he said, highlighting that non-EU countries represented about 60 per cent of Britain’s trade.
UK exports to the UAE range from telecommunications, power generation, electronics, transportation, office machinery and retail goods to non-metallic mineral manufacture, according to the Embassy of the UAE in the UK.
The governments of both countries established the UK-UAE joint economic committee in 2009, which targeted a 60 per cent increase in trade between the countries by last year. This target was surpassed a year ahead of schedule.
lgraves@thenational.ae
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