First Minister’s Visit to Riyadh and Dubai, 7-13 October

During the last week of the summer recess, I led the Riyadh and Dubai legs of WalesTrade International’s mission to the Middle East.  9 Welsh companies took part.

Since September 11 several Western countries have cut back on trade missions to the Gulf States but WalesTrade International, backed by the Welsh Assembly Government, firmly believes that there is a gap in the market.

As usual, the full benefits to the companies participating in the mission will not emerge for some time, but the visit has already identified considerable potential business gains for Wales which I will be able to report on before too long.

During the two and a half days that I spent in Riyadh, I met members of the Royal Family, Government Ministers and officials, plus senior members of the business community, including the Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Chief Executive of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority.  

I also had discussions with the Governor of Riyadh and the Chair of the Majlis Al-Shura (consultative council), the Minister of Planning and the Minister of Commerce.

Riyadh has developed from a township of 30,000 in the 1940s to a major city of more than 4.5 million today and is said to be the second largest city in the world after Los Angeles in terms of land area.  

I was most interested to hear the Governor of Riyadh’s experience of managing such a fast growing city region. I shared with him my views on the benefits of devolution and developing new forms of government.  

During the meeting with the Minister of Commerce, I took the opportunity to emphasise that the Saudi ban on UK dairy products is not scientifically based and that all other major trading partners accept UK dairy products as of the highest quality and standard. The Minister confirmed that his officials were looking at the issue.

I attended a meeting with Saudi alumni of the University of Wales, all of whom had the potential to be enthusiastic and outstanding ambassadors for this country.  This collective enthusiasm needs to be harnessed to strengthen future undergraduate and postgraduate recruitment. I was also told that there was also a strong University of Glamorgan alumni in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. There are 200 Saudi students in Wales this academic year.

I made a presentation to top Saudi officials, journalists and business people under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority on how Wales has established a high reputation for attracting foreign direct investment and maintaining good relations with the businesses that have relocated. There were some outstanding questions in the Q & A session.

I also attended a British community reception hosted by the British Ambassador in Riyadh at his residence at which around 100 people, many from the business, education and defence community, were present.  It was good to see that so many of them were from Wales, including a very strong contingent of school-teachers at the British School, where some estimates indicated that 20% of staff were Welsh, many much engaged in the Key Stage 4 extension now permitted in the curriculum.

I strongly believe that the trade mission and my visit have reinforced the excellent relationship between Wales and Saudi Arabia and will enable more Wales-based companies to take advantage of the window of opportunity. Following my visit, an invitation has been issued for a top level delegation of Saudi business people to come to Wales early next year.  We should recall that Saudi Arabia is by far the UK’s largest trading and investment partner in the Middle East and also our largest market for goods and services outside the OECD.

My two and a half day visit to Dubai was hosted by Sheikh Juma Al Maktoum, one of the senior members of the Royal Family in that part of the United Arab Emirates, who visited Wales in July. Sheikh Juma has continued to be very supportive of WTI efforts in the Dubai market and has demonstrated this recently with the visit to Dubai of the Pro-vice Chancellors of Cardiff and Bangor universities.

I was guest of honour at an evening reception hosted by the Dubai Welsh Society, and was delighted to see how active and well-established the Society is, with over 300 members and its own up-to-date website. Some members of the Welsh community have established their own businesses in the Gulf and want to have contact with comparable Welsh businesses.

The largest permanent business established in the Gulf with a Welsh headquarters is Hyder Consulting which employs 460 staff in its Dubai offices out of a 2600 global total. This business was spun out of Hyder by a management buy-out after the WPD takeover.

I also had a tour of the new Dubai including the impressive projects at the Internet and Media Cities and two multi-billion projects, the Palm Island tourism project and the 50,000 apartments in the Marina.  

As in Wales, there is a keen interest in balancing economic development and care for the environment.  I met Ms Habiba Marashi, Chief Executive of the Emirates Environment Group to hear of how an NGO in the Gulf was approaching the issue of sustainable development.  We also discussed the opportunities available to Welsh businesses to exploit their expertise in areas such as environmental and goods and services.

I gave interviews in both Riyadh and Dubai to the local media, including the influential Dubai Business Channel, which ran a special feature on Wales.  These interviews and the resulting wide media coverage of my visit have  helped increase Wales’ profile in the Middle East.  It is rare for Wales and its First Minister to feature so prominently in the Riyadh Daily!

I have brought back some clear messages, including the huge potential market represented by the fast growing Middle East market and the can do approach to developing major industrial and tourism projects within relatively short periods of time.

More generally, the UK has excellent trade relations with the United Arab Emirates and I hope to see Welsh companies exploiting the expanding business opportunities in the Gulf, in construction, oil and gas, leisure and media sectors, environmental and safety engineering, aerospace, general repair and maintenance or whatever.

As a result of my visit to the Gulf, I believe the arguments have strengthened  for a permanent Middle East trade presence and my officials are looking at the options, including Riyadh and Dubai.

I would like to formally record my thanks to the British Embassies and Welsh societies in Riyadh and Dubai for their help with the arrangements and for their support during the course of the visit.