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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