Letter from Lord Davies of Abersoch, Minister
for Trade and Investment to the Chairman of the BIS Select Committee
Thank you for your letter of 30 April, about
exporting out of recession.
I am pleased that you found your visit to the UAE
and Saudi Arabia so useful and I appreciate your positive feedback
on the support that the Select Committee received from the Embassy
teams in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh. Interest from UK companies
in business opportunities in the Middle East—and particularly
in markets such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Iraq—is strong
and is certainly increasing.
UK Trade & Investment's overseas resource
is kept constantly under review with a view to ensuring, as you
point out in your letter, that the staffing in our network of
Embassies and Consulates overseas relates strongly to demand for
UKTI's services. We are aware of the pressures on the UKTI team
in Saudi Arabia at the moment and are already looking creatively
at how that team can be reinforced within the bounds of existing
resources. I can assure you that making resource savings in the
UAE to compensate for additional UKTI resource in Saudi Arabia
is not an option. Despite the current check on Dubai's growth,
the UAE continues to offer huge opportunities for British companies.
However, an increase in resource in Saudi Arabia may have to be
compensated by savings made elsewhere in the UKTI network.
I would like to reassure you that we are dealing
with the issue of UKTI staffing in Saudi Arabia as a matter of
urgency. I look forward to receiving the Select Committee's full
conclusions in due course.
8 June 2009
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