UK woos UAE to aid
Arab Spring nations

“The UAE is an essential partner in liaising issues between G8 and the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region,” said Dominic Jeremy, British Ambassador in Abu Dhabi.

On January 1 this year, the UK took over the presidency of G8, which rotates annually with the other seven G8 members Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

According to Ambassador Jeremy, this group alone represent half of the world’s economy and in 2013, the UK plans to focus on three key issues — trade, transparency and tax.

Largely, trade will focus on building economies and creating jobs, tackling the eurozone financial crises and public debt, but the biggest emphasis is on a European Union (EU) and United States trade agreement, which has been criticised by other nations saying that it is more a UK-US agreement that would create a trade disadvantage for the developing countries.

The UK also wants its national and EU leaders to cooperate in a crackdown on tax evasion as well as bring in more transparency with regards to the aid received by developing nations.

“On the tax agenda is to drive governments to receive what is due to them. We, as G8, want to ensure individuals and international corporations will support transparency on tax,” stressed Jeremy.

When it comes to the Arab region, the new G8 leader plans to continue sending aid to Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. Last year, under French presidency, the G8 created a fund of $38 billion for these countries in the form of loans, grants, budget support and technical assistance.

According to Jessica Irvine, representative in the Gulf States of the UK’s Department for International Development, up to 150 small and medium size enterprises from these four Mena countries will partner with international businesses to aid their growth.

Another emphasis when it comes to the Arab region will be capacity building for assets recovery in the Arab Spring nations.

For such endeavours, a fund of $250 million has been planned.

“So far, $160 million has been pledged by the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait,” mentioned Irvine.

The financing deals by the G8 aim at supporting reform efforts as a result of uprisings in Mena region. These deals are mostly in the form of loans, and are, so far, provided 50 per cent by the G8 and Arab countries equally, and the other half by various lenders and development banks.

They include $10.7 billion contributed by the World Bank, $7.6 billion from the African Development Bank and $5 billion from the Islamic Development Bank. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has also pledged euros 2.5 billion.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com