Dr Liam Fox: Britain is open for business

Gulf News

The UK wants to take advantage of its strategic partnership with the UAE as it seeks to shape its post-Brexit economy. Dr. Liam Fox, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade, said the UK understood the geopolitical importance of the Middle East, and already had strong trade ties, particularly in defence and security. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Well, the main priority is post-referendum to put out the message that Britain is open

00:13for business, that the referendum doesn't represent Britain looking inwards but in fact

00:18is the beginning of Britain looking much more outwards, having our horizons widened beyond

00:26the European Union. As I've often said, we're not leaving the EU, we're rejoining the rest

00:31of the world. And in the modern era, we need to be able to trade more widely and also to

00:37be able to push trade liberalisation. In an era where there are too many protectionist

00:42voices, we want to be the voice for free trade in the whole world.

00:51The UAE is our fourth biggest trading partner outside the European Union. Only the US and

01:00China and India are bigger trading partners. So it's a very, very big market for us and

01:06we want to ensure that we can get that to continue to grow. And we will want to look

01:12at all the areas that we trade in, in goods and services, to see where we might be able

01:17to open that up.

01:22Well, of course, we want to ensure that our trade is a two-way flow. It's about how we can get investment

01:30into the United Kingdom, the sort of foreign direct investment we've seen, also how we

01:34can use the investment that we've got here for our mutual benefit. How can we add value

01:40to the economies inside the UAE in a way that causes their economic capacity to increase,

01:47which in itself becomes a bigger market for UK exports. And that's the great thing about

01:51free trade. It can be a win-win. Everybody can actually benefit from a more liberal trading

01:57environment.

02:02There's clearly an expressed desire by the British public in the referendum to leave

02:07the European Union. We have to get on with that. We can't leave it too long. So we don't

02:12want to do it too quickly because we might not be ready, but we don't want to leave it

02:16too long either. And we're keen to get the certainty on that as anybody else. But we

02:23want a good exit, not necessarily the quickest exit.

02:30We've had all these predictions about how bad it would be. We're at record levels of

02:37employment and that has continued to be very strong in the months since the referendum.

02:42We're at near record low unemployment across the United Kingdom. We're seeing recruitment

02:48continue to be strong, consumer spending continue to be strong, investments continuing and in

02:53fact property prices are rising across the UK. So I think that in the real economy, people

03:00can see that there's a great opportunity for us and some of the predictions of those who

03:04were telling us that economic Armageddon was just round the corner have proved to be, well,

03:10wide of the mark, let's say.

03:13We've got relationships in defence and security in particular. And we also understand the

03:22geopolitical importance of this region and its stability. But when you're looking at

03:27the United Kingdom, particularly as somewhere where people might want to headquarter or

03:32to invest in our economy, why do people come to the UK? We've got a body of commercial

03:39law that people know will be applied equally whether they're UK citizens or UK businesses

03:44or not. They know that we've got a skilled workforce. They know that we have a low level

03:49of industrial disruption. We're a low regulation economy. We're a low taxation economy. We've

03:54got some of the best universities in the world. We have got access to a strong research base.

04:01We speak English and we're the best zone for global trading. And that's even before you

04:06take into account the quality of life issues, culturally, education, low crime and so on,

04:12which makes the UK such an attractive place. And all of those elements will continue because

04:18none of them, none of those elements are dependent on our membership of the European Union.

04:27Well, whatever you think of the politics of it, the fact remains that we are the second

04:32biggest economy in the European Union and the fifth biggest economy on the planet. And

04:36so there is a strong desire for countries to want to trade with us because we are such

04:40a big market and a very mature market. So if you want to have the politics trumpet,

04:50then you may end up with companies not being able to make profits and people not being

04:54able to have jobs for some abstract political reason. That does not make any sense to me.

05:00And I think that in the end, common sense will prevail and governments who need to

05:05get re-elected and who want to continue to trade and have profits and employment in their

05:09countries will want to continue to deal with the United Kingdom. We have so many advantages

05:14that I've been outlining to you as a potential market that I think it would be crazy for

05:20anyone to turn away from us.

05:25Our fundamentals are very strong in the United Kingdom, much stronger than most other European

05:30economies. We've been the fastest growing of the G7 economies in recent years. And when

05:35you look at the fundamental stability of the UK economy, it's in contrast with some of

05:41the others around us who are not looking in such good shape. And if I were an investor,

05:47if I were a trader, I'd be saying, who looks like the better long-term bet? Who's got the

05:52better fundamentals? Who's got the better commitment to global free trade? And the answer

05:57every time will be United Kingdom.

06:00www.unitedtrade.eu

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