UK seeks help of Gulf SWFs to boost its economy: Mandelson

The United Kingdom yesterday said it is actively seeking investment from Gulf sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to help boost the country's economy despite reservations in some quarters.

Lord Peter Mandelson, Britain's Secretary of State for Trade, said during a visit to Abu Dhabi that his delegation had met SWF representatives and government officials and had received a good response during talks on investment and other areas of co-operation.

"We need liquidity in the system," he said. "We need funds to flow and we need credit to be available. We are putting that right in Britain and you are doing so here in the Emirates. We have a lot to learn from each other and to do together."

Lord Mandelson said Brit-ain welcomed SWF investment, unlike some other countries that were resistant. "We welcome that and we strongly encourage investment from the Emirates. In Britain we would like to see our businesses, our companies doing more together. Not just in our respective economies, but working together to make an impact in international markets. And I think increasingly in the future we can do that," he said.

He said his delegation had met a team from an unnamed fund the previous evening. "They are good friends and we look forward to strengthening our relations in the future," he said after signing an agreement on trade and investment with the UAE Ministry of Economy at the Emirates Palace hotel.

When asked whether the UK was seeking investment in any particular sectors, he replied: "I'm not going to limit the scope of what we can do by picking out particular areas because the potential breadth of our relations is huge."

Lord Mandelson said his GCC trade mission had been a success and he had particularly enjoyed his talks in the UAE. "I'm very satisfied with my tour. The UAE is a very important partner for Britain and the scope in sheer scale of what is happening here places a huge obligation on governments to make sure that our businesses are collaborating properly," he added.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.