Bosses from Arup, Berkeley Homes and architect Gensler join London mayor Boris Johnson in effort to drum up business in the UAE
Bosses from Arup, Berkeley Homes and architect Gensler are among those accompanying London mayor Boris Johnson on his trade delegation to the Gulf.
The delegation arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and will visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai before moving on to Doha in Qatar as part of an effort to build stronger business ties with the region and attract major investment to London.
It includes Arup chairman Philip Dilley, Tony Pidgley, the chairman of housing developer Berkeley Group, and Ian Mulcahey, the managing director of architect Gensler.
The mayor will meet major investors including HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DP World, which owns the huge London Gateway port and business park currently under construction; Khaled Al Sayed, acting chief executive of developer Qatari Diar, Sheikh Saoud, secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee and Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive of Masdar and UAE Minister of State.
Johnson said: “I want London to continue to be the number one city of choice for investors from this dynamic region.
“With strong historic ties in place, we already have fruitful trading partnerships between the Gulf and this city…these collaborations have resulted in several recent mega projects to benefit London’s economy and jobs market such as the stupendous Shard and the London Gateway, set to be the UK’s first deep sea container port.”
The visit is part of a wider series of trips the mayor is undertaking to key overseas markets including last December’s visit to India and future trips to China and Brazil.
Gulf economies are growing at a comparable rate to BRIC countries with the IMF predicting further strong growth averaging four per cent over the next six years.
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