Wednesday, 18 Aug 2010
HRH The Duke of York during his visit to Bahrain. Photo Courtesy of the Gulf Daily News.
HRH The Duke of York visits the Middle East – May 2010
While in Kuwait, HRH attended meetings with the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait, the Minister of Public Works and representatives from Amec, Arup, BT and Fosters. He also attended lunches and dinners given by the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait, the Deputy Minister for the Amiri Diwan, Her Majesty's Ambassador, and Gulf Consult and received a briefing on Pearl City.
Kuwait is embarking on a four year development plan spending around £70 billion to develop its infrastructure, healthcare, education and the private business sector and is focusing on completing three major projects within the next four years - Sheikh Jabber Bridge, Boubyan Island port and the 700,000 population Silk City. During his visit, HRH met both Kuwaiti and British engineering consulting companies, and heard that UK companies and Kuwaiti company Gulf Consult were collectively working on projects valued at over £2,000 million.
In Bahrain The Duke called upon the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Industry and Commerce and the Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These high level meetings enabled HRH to hear to the views of leading figures and to deliver some key messages about the UK. He also attended a Business Reception given by Her Majesty's Ambassador, dinners given by The Crown Prince of Bahrain and Her Majesty's Ambassador at the British Embassy with the Minister of Works and representatives of the construction industry, including Mott MacDonald, Hyder Consulting and Atkins, and representatives of Bahraini firms; and a lunch given by the Bahrain British Business Forum at the British Club at which he inaugurated the new extension at the Club.
The Duke said that notwithstanding the UK’s excellent relationship with Bahrain, our companies had to be competitive, and stressed that there were opportunities for FDI in both directions. He also asked which sort of UK companies should be going to Bahrain and it was suggested that Bahraini companies were looking for JV opportunities, particularly in health, education, infrastructure/construction, IT and downstream aluminium, steel and petrochemical sectors.
The Bahraini government is also expanding Bahrain International Airport and delivering a Privatisation Strategy and Implementation Plan to upgrade its wastewater treatment infrastructure. The Bahrainis noted that British companies were less active than some other nations in bidding for work. The UKTI team at the British Embassy in Bahrain with the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry and HRH’s office, are looking at ways to better promote the opportunities to British companies.
While in Saudi Arabia, HRH called upon Prince Khalid bin Sultan Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Ministry of Defence, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Minister and Vice Minister of Interior, the Minister of Education where he witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for teacher training and the Royal Adviser for The Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines of Medina and Mecca.
He also attended meetings with the Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the Vice Governor of the Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority and the Vice President of the King Abdullah City of Science and Technology. The Duke also visited the Saudi Arabian British Bank, the British Council and the British and Irish Food Festival.