Oral Answers to Questions

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Thursday 21st April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jayawardena]

The six GCC nations form together one of our largest trading partners, with total trade standing at over £31 billion in the four quarters to September last year. In January, we completed a public consultation in support of a trade deal with the GCC that gets the best deal for British businesses and consumers. We aim to start those negotiations with others later this year. In the meantime, we are driving forward investment, including £1 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supporting sustainable aviation in Teesside, and, as I referred to earlier, £10 billion from the United Arab Emirates in a sovereign investment partnership.

[Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

T8. Vivarail showcased its world-beating, self-charging battery trains to delegates at COP26 in Glasgow. What steps is the Minister taking to promote UK manufacturing, especially green manufacturing, and win export orders for excellent businesses such as Vivarail, which is located in my constituency?

[Mike Freer]

We are always looking for companies we can showcase. We can sell companies such as Vivarail around the world. Whenever we talk to our partners abroad on bilateral agreements looking for investment in green and renewable energy, including on transportation, we will always do our best to push forward expert companies such as the one the hon. Gentleman mentioned.