UAE-UK Business Council Unveils Five-Year Vision and Announces Campaigns for 2026
To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the UAE-UK Business Council today set out its vision for the next five years at its Plenary Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Speakers included the Business Council’s Co-Chairs – His Excellency Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh and Rt Hon Lord Udny-Lister – as well as His Excellency Fahad Al Gergawi, Acting Undersecretary, Ministry of Foreign Trade, UAE; His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mubadala Investment Company; Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice; His Excellency Mansoor Abulhoul, UAE Ambassador to the UK; HMA Edward Hobart, UK Ambassador to the UAE; and Peng Xiao, Group CEO of G42.
The UAE-UK Business Council outlined three focus areas that will transform the bilateral trade and investment relationship over the next five years, creating collaboration opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses:
1. Promoting market access through a constructive trade agreement
The UAE-UK Business Council will continue to support UK-GCC Free Trade Agreement negotiations by representing the views of its members and stakeholders as discussions near their conclusion. It will work with the business community in both countries to enhance market access, as well as facilitating opportunities for future collaboration.
2. Fostering collaboration in emerging industries and technologies
Through its campaigns, white papers and events, the UAE-UK Business Council will encourage the development of emerging industries shaping the economies of both countries – including AI and technology-driven innovation in industries such as life sciences, energy transition and infrastructure. The Council will expedite knowledge exchange in these fast-evolving industries so that like-minded innovators can connect to create new commercial partnerships. This focus reflects the UK’s recently launched Industrial Strategy and the UAE’s policies promoting advanced technologies and high-value manufacturing.
3. Leveraging UAE-UK partnership to support growth in other markets
The UAE-UK Business Council will launch a campaign to foster partnerships between UK and UAE companies seeking to build a commercial presence in high-growth African economies and other emerging economies. By leveraging the UAE and UK as platforms for global growth, the initiative will help UK firms establish operations in the UAE to access Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and enable UAE companies to tap into global markets via the UK.
To advance these priority areas, the UAE-UK Business Council will continue hosting high-impact events and summits in both countries, building on its successful calendar of programming over the last year.
In addition to the UK-UAE-Africa Dialogue, the UAE-UK Business Council will deliver campaigns and produce white papers on skills and vocational training, innovation in infrastructure and construction, wellbeing and longevity, and financial services.
His Excellency Ahmed Al Sayegh, UAE Co-Chair of the UAE-UK Business Council, commented:
“The UAE and the UK are both well-placed to adapt to the new dynamics shaping global trade and commerce. There are significant benefits to dismantling trade barriers that will drive economic growth and encourage flows of data, ideas and technology between our two nations.
The UAE-UK Business Council is committed to facilitating knowledge exchange and creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs and business leaders to forge new commercial partnerships. The UAE’s proactive approach to securing trade agreements with key partners worldwide, continuing economic diversification, and investment in technologies such as AI, is creating exciting opportunities for UK companies across a range of sectors.”
Rt Hon Lord Udny-Lister, UK Co-Chair of the UAE-UK Business Council, commented:
“Our trade relationship is worth nearly £24 billion, with over 14,000 companies in the UK exporting their goods and services to the UAE.
While bilateral trade is growing healthily, we are also increasingly seeing UK and UAE companies using each other’s markets as a springboard to capture new opportunities in Asia, Africa and beyond. Over the coming year, we will aim to enhance companies’ understanding of how these third-market opportunities can be harnessed through UK-UAE collaboration”.
You can view photos from the day here.