Dubai: British Prime Minister Theresa May is to join Gulf Arab leaders at a summit in Bahrain on Tuesday for talks on trade after Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Defence ties are also expected to be high on the agenda as Britain builds a new naval base in Bahrain.
May is the first British premier and the first woman to attend the annual summit of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Her two days of talks come as her government faces mounting domestic criticism that it has not done enough to avoid post-Brexit disruption to British trade, which is currently carried out under EU agreements.
“I will have the opportunity to talk to all six leaders about how we can develop our trade relationship, as well as cooperation on security and defence,” May said ahead of her arrival in Manama late on Monday.
May will discuss the possibilities for post-Brexit free trade arrangements with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, her office said.
“As the UK leaves the EU, we should seize the opportunity to forge a new trade arrangement between the UK and the Gulf,” May said.
“This could transform the way we do business and lock in a new level of prosperity for our people for generations to come.”
Ahead of the summit, May held talks with Bahraini officials that also focused on defence ties, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
In October last year, Britain began building a naval base at Mina Salman, outside Manama, its first new permanent base in the Middle East in four decades.
Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa “looks forward to expanding joint cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and security”, BNA said.
