CITYSCAPE: The UK delegation will visit visit Dubai (pictured) and Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. (Getty Images)Sunday, 19 September 2010
UK Treasury minister to lead debt delegation to Mideast
A high ranking British minister is to lead a delegation to the Middle East to meet investors, government officials and sovereign wealth funds, in a bid to sell more UK debt, it was reported on Sunday.
Lord Sassoon, the commercial secretary to the UK Treasury, will lead the delegation to the Middle East, which will last for four days and will visit Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, the London-based The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
The team will also include Robert Stheeman, the head of the UK's Debt Management Office and will consist of meetings with ministers, investors and sovereign wealth funds across the Gulf.
It is rare for such a high profile British minister to be part of the delegation, but Lord Sassoon said the aim is to convince Gulf investors that the UK debt situation is different from that facing Greece and it is a safe market to continue investing in.
"Debt has not been an issue previously. But now we have this huge increase in debt burden, things have changed. I think it is right to pay investors the courtesy of seeing them face to face and listening to their concerns and understanding what they want," Lord Sassoon told the newspaper.
The report did not give exact dates for the delegation’s trip to the Middle East.
In April, a study by the Bank for International Settlements found that interest payments on the UK's public debt will increase to nearly ten percent of GDP within a decade to around 27 percent by 2040. It also estimated that the UK’s structural deficit would rise to nine percent of GDP in 2011.
The UK has increasingly been eager to court investors in the Middle East and last week the Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt visited the UAE and attended a meeting of the UK/UAE Taskforce. The Taskforce is aiming to boost trade between the two countries by 60 percent to AED65bn by 2015.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/
UK Treasury minister to lead debt delegation to Mideast
A high ranking British minister is to lead a delegation to the Middle East to meet investors, government officials and sovereign wealth funds, in a bid to sell more UK debt, it was reported on Sunday.
Lord Sassoon, the commercial secretary to the UK Treasury, will lead the delegation to the Middle East, which will last for four days and will visit Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, the London-based The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
The team will also include Robert Stheeman, the head of the UK's Debt Management Office and will consist of meetings with ministers, investors and sovereign wealth funds across the Gulf.
It is rare for such a high profile British minister to be part of the delegation, but Lord Sassoon said the aim is to convince Gulf investors that the UK debt situation is different from that facing Greece and it is a safe market to continue investing in.
"Debt has not been an issue previously. But now we have this huge increase in debt burden, things have changed. I think it is right to pay investors the courtesy of seeing them face to face and listening to their concerns and understanding what they want," Lord Sassoon told the newspaper.
The report did not give exact dates for the delegation’s trip to the Middle East.
In April, a study by the Bank for International Settlements found that interest payments on the UK's public debt will increase to nearly ten percent of GDP within a decade to around 27 percent by 2040. It also estimated that the UK’s structural deficit would rise to nine percent of GDP in 2011.
The UK has increasingly been eager to court investors in the Middle East and last week the Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt visited the UAE and attended a meeting of the UK/UAE Taskforce. The Taskforce is aiming to boost trade between the two countries by 60 percent to AED65bn by 2015.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/
