UK Minister for Investment Baroness Poppy Gustafsson
Doha: UK Minister for Investment Baroness Poppy Gustafsson (pictured) described the Qatar as a key market both for trade and investment because of its dynamic and diversifying economy, and the wide variety of growth areas identified in its National Vision 2030.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency, the British Minister praised the Qatari investments’ role in the British economy. pointing that Qatar has estimated investments of more than £40bn into the UK economy, helping to create jobs, growth and prosperity in the UK.
The two countries share a robust and flourishing economic partnership, as total trade in goods and services was £5.6bn in the year to Q3 2024, she added.
“Our central economic objective for the next decade is to drive mutual growth, support technological innovation, and advance the transition to a sustainable, green economy through targeted investments in cutting-edge sectors like clean energy, technology, and life sciences,” she said.
Baroness Gustafsson added: “We’re committed to collaborating across growth-driving sectors which will have mutual benefit for both our nations, including in clean energy, technology, life sciences, creative industries, culture, and housing.”
Regarding the most promising investment opportunities for UK businesses in Qatar, Baroness Gustafsson pointed that UK businesses are respected for quality and expert delivery, and there are opportunities across a broad range of industries including infrastructure, education, healthcare and security.
She pointed out that UK is one of the best destinations in the world to invest, “Our multilateral and bilateral economic partnerships with countries like Qatar are crucial to increasing growth opening up investment and export routes, tackling barriers to trade, and partnering to create shared markets,” she said.
She added that the UK government will set out its Trade Strategy, aligned with our upcoming Industrial Strategy, to help businesses to overcome barriers and maximise trade and investment for the growth-driving sectors and across the whole economy.
“The UK-Qatar Strategic Investment Partnerships is key to supporting economic links, capital flows, and longer-term investment pipelines,” she said.
With regard to investment opportunities in the UK, she said that growth is the number one mission of this government and the new Industrial Strategy is central to that. It will focus on stimulating investment and activity in sectors with the highest growth potential over the next 10 years.
The Strategy will take advantage of the UK’s unique strengths and untapped potential, enabling the UK’s already world-leading services and manufacturing sectors to adapt and grow, and will seize opportunities to lead in new sectors, with high quality, well-paid jobs.
The Industrial Strategy’s eight growth-driving sectors are: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services, she said.
“The Government will prioritise sub-sectors that meet our objectives. This includes areas like renewable energy and AI, and Qatar will be a key partner as we explore investment opportunities across these areas,” she added.
The UK Minister of Investment touched on the ongoing negotiation regarding an FTA with the GCC, pointing that the negotiations have been progressing at pace and were having constructive discussions on goods, services and sustainable trade provisions.
It is estimated that the GCC-UK deal could increase bilateral trade by 16 percent, adding an extra GBP8.6bn a year to trade between the UK and GCC countries in the long run.
