Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf

Baroness Warsi Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2013 Grand Committee

[The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) (Con)]

My Lords, I should like to start by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Luce, for calling this debate. It has provided a welcome opportunity to take stock of the UK’s relationship with a region that is of enormous importance to this Government, and with which we are very close friends and partners. I pay tribute to the noble Lord for his constructive engagement with countries in the region, and my noble friend Lady Falkner and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, for contributing so insightfully to today’s debate. I also thank my noble friend Lord King for his warm words for my colleagues, especially Alistair Burt, who we shall all miss. This debate is also timely for me personally, having recently returned from a visit to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, which served to highlight again that our relationships with the Gulf countries are as strong and diverse today as they have been for generations.

The debate has also served to demonstrate the complexities, contrasts and opportunities that the region presents. Over 160,000 of our nationals currently call the Gulf their home. We work with our Gulf allies on energy security, we value their help in the fight against terrorism, and they represent one of our largest global export markets. The region is home to over a quarter of the world’s sovereign wealth, a significant portion of which is invested in the UK. This shows the strength of the bilateral relationship, but of course we support discussions with the Gulf Co-operation Council at the EU level to benefit trade between the two blocs. However, our bilateral relations remain strong and important.

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, we meet regularly as a bloc. In fact, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary hosted his GCC counterparts at a lunch at the end of September, and the GCC ambassadors meet on a regular basis to connect with each other and with parliamentarians. I have been invited to a number of those occasions. We also work with the Governments of the Gulf to help us achieve our foreign policy priorities in Libya, Syria, Egypt and Yemen, to name just a few examples. So ours is a multifaceted relationship and, as the variety of issues raised today shows, one to which an hour-long debate can hardly do justice. However, I shall try to deal with some of the broader issues.

The UK’s engagement with the Gulf is at a high point. Through the cross-Whitehall Gulf Initiative, launched by my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary in 2010, we are expanding our co-operation to unprecedented levels across the full range of issues, from culture to defence, commercial interests to education, and of course on regional security issues. We are engaged at the highest levels, with over 150 royal and ministerial visits to the region over the past two years, and frequent visits by our Gulf counterparts in the other direction, not least of which have been state visits to the UK by the President of the United Arab Emirates in May this year, the Emir of Kuwait in November 2012 and the then Emir of Qatar in October 2010. Our engagement with the region has been strengthened by the launch of formal dialogues with the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain as part of our Gulf Initiative. Visits and dialogues are a substantial commitment, but they are a vital investment and I am pleased that they are already bearing fruit. In a highly competitive global landscape we are building strong links between our businesses, our educational institutions and our militaries. I have taken note of the words of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, who said that we have to take a long-term approach.

Your Lordships have heard today that the Gulf states represent a growing market for our goods. Since 2010, our trade in goods with every country in the region has increased by up to a quarter. It was worth over £11 billion last year in the region as a whole, £5 billion of that with the UAE alone. Since 2009, we have increased our exports in goods by 10%.

Gulf countries are building their infrastructure, improving their healthcare and investing in education. They are doing all of this with the help of British companies. I should add that it is over and above the normal day-to-day business support campaigns that UKTI teams in our embassies are working on to deliver British business success in that region. Inward investment, too, is growing substantially. Qatar alone has invested over £22 billion in the UK, creating jobs here and bolstering our economy.

The Government are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to work together to increase prosperity on both sides. I am delighted to say that the UK will play host to the ninth annual World Islamic Economic Forum in London at the end of this month—the first time this meeting has been held outside the Muslim world. This is an important step in our commitment to cementing the UK’s reputation as a centre for Islamic financial services.

I discussed the forum meeting and broader Islamic finance issues with Ministers, senior officials and finance professionals across the region during my recent visit. In Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama and Kuwait City, the message was clear: the potential for Islamic finance is huge and growing. The interest in working with the UK is there. I am committed to ensuring that the UK benefits from this growing market.

Of course, our prosperity goals will be best achieved in a secure and stable environment. Our Gulf allies sit in a troubled region. The problems were eloquently set out by my noble friend Lord King and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup. We are proud to have stood by our Gulf allies at times of crisis and need, most notably in Kuwait in 1991. We have strong defence relationships, with military assets and personnel based across the region. The UK continues to provide expertise and equipment. We value the contribution that Gulf countries make to our security too, particularly through our close co-operation on counterterrorism issues. We share a common threat from international terrorism, which we deal with together. Gulf countries are showing leadership in countering the threat. Both Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi have established impressive models. We are also expanding our co-operation in international aid, working on joint aid projects with Qatar in Sudan and with the UAE in Somalia and Afghanistan, to name but a few.

Our strong friendship with Gulf nations enables us to have open and honest discussions where our views differ, in particular on the important issue of human rights and democracy. We are always ready to speak out as a matter of principle, and the Foreign Office’s annual report on human rights pulls no punches. We continue to press, at every level of diplomatic engagement, for practical, realistic and achievable reforms to improve the human rights situation across the region. Gulf states were not immune from the growing hopes which spread across the region in 2011. Countries in the Gulf, as elsewhere in the world, are finding ways to adapt to the changing aspirations of their people.

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Luce, that the Bahrain Independent Commission of Enquiry was an unprecedented move by the Bahrain state, and King Hamad in particular. We are committed to supporting a Bahraini-led reform process, and have provided assistance in torture prevention, the judicial process, community policing and civil service capacity building, to name but a few. We welcome the progress that has been made, but we are also clear there is still more that needs to be done. We will continue to press the Bahraini authorities for further action.

Since the Arab spring we have emphasised to our Gulf partners the importance of stability based on the building blocks of democracy: a voice, a job, an independent media and the rule of law. We are constantly pressing for progress—I know because I have done so myself—and we are supporting our Gulf colleagues when we see it. However, we also understand that reform takes time. We are seeing Kuwait building a more vibrant Parliament; Saudi Arabia has, for the first time, appointed 30 women to the King’s advisory council, and we are helping Bahrain by training the police and supporting the judicial system.

I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Luce, for his kind words on the Arab Partnership Participation Fund. Through this fund, administered by the Foreign Office, we will provide UK expertise, technical support and seed funding to a variety of Gulf state countries to build the capability of public servants to respond effectively to the changing economic and political challenges facing the region.

Every time I visit the region I am struck by the genuine affection in which Britain is held. My Gulf counterparts speak fondly of the UK and their memories are long. Many of them have spent time here and see it as their second home. Our relationships have strong foundations of a shared history, but the focus of this Government is about making sure that we use those strong foundations to build a strong future. Our allies sit in a complex part of the world, one which is undergoing seismic shifts. It is a region of great diversity and of great promise, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the UK remains a key partner and a strong ally.