Simon Penney, the British Trade Commissioner (HTMC) for the Middle East and Pakistan, said Saudi-British efforts were underway to increase and maximize partnerships and corporate business in various fields.
He noted that Riyadh represented the largest destination for UK exports, with an increase of 24 percent over the last three years, stressing that the two kingdoms enjoyed a strong long-term bilateral relationship, based on a number of pillars, including trade and investment.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Penney said opportunities abound in all the diverse sectors of the economy in Saudi Arabia.
He added that his team at the Department for International Trade was working closely with the Invest in Saudi Arabia initiative and the Ministry of Investment on many of the huge Saudi projects, with the aim to encourage British companies to invest in Saudi Arabia.
“Of course, investment goes both ways, and we are looking to thrive and increase business in the UK and Saudi Arabia,” Penney stated.
According to the British official, the partnership between the two kingdoms continues to grow on solid bases. Referring to trade statistics for the end of the first quarter of 2022, Penney said that Saudi Arabia was the largest destination for UK exports in the region, due to the significant growth in service exports from the UK, which has increased by 24 percent over the past three years.
Total trade in goods and services (export and import) between the UK and Saudi Arabia amounted to £11.3 billion in the four quarters to the end of the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 6.4 percent, or £683 million, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
On the United Kingdom’s readiness to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in the medical and health care sector, Penney stressed that health care and life sciences were essential for both kingdoms, noting that cooperation in this field was an important part of the British bid for the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Penney, who recently participated in the Global Health Forum in Riyadh, stressed his country’s readiness to provide, through British health care experts, advice and participation in many health care initiatives in Saudi Arabia, noting that after the Covid-19 pandemic, the opportunities for cooperation in these sectors increased significantly.
He said that the forum provided a great opportunity to invest in diagnostic technology and remote care, adding that the participating British delegation represented the best innovators in the field of digitization and healthcare transformation, and reflected the UK’s commitment to strengthening healthcare partnerships with Riyadh.
“We participated in the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh with a high-level delegation from 26 British organizations, and we traveled to Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. The delegation included five institutions affiliated with the National Health Service, which together provide a range of important and specialized services, including primary care, mental health services, education and training, out-of-hospital services, and digital services,” Penney told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The British delegation to the forum was one of the largest trade missions from the United Kingdom in the field of health care and life sciences to Saudi Arabia, he revealed. It included the NHS Trust, in addition to MedTech, Genomics, Digital Health and Health Care Services, in partnership with Mott MacDonald and Health Care World.
