“We have 11 of the world's 25 leading universities and numerous training and accrediting institutions. What is more, the London Business School has been recently ranked by Financial Times as the top place in the world to do an MBA,” Anstee told a press conference followed by a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) on Sunday. “We have 55 different major training institutions offering Shariah-compliant training in finance alone, which is not there anywhere in the world,” he said.
British Consul General Kate Rudd said 15,000 Saudi students were pursuing studies in the UK, while British Muslims mainly visited Saudi Arabia for religious studies.
JCCI Vice Chairperson Lama Sulaiman highlighted the strong economic, cultural and political relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain. "There are 185 Saudi-British joint ventures with a total investment of $15 billion in addition to 135 agents of British companies in the Kingdom," she said.
Sulaiman said two-day trade between Saudi Arabia and Britain exceeded SR22 billion, adding that the trade balance was tilting in favor of Britain, which exports products worth more than SR16 billion to the Kingdom.
“As we come out of the recession, an indication being the UK economy's returning to growth in the last quarter of 2009, London is still your best choice of place for doing business,” said the Lord Mayor, urging Saudis to visit and open offices there.
“London remains strong and its commitment to Saudi Arabia remains steadfast.” “Commercial property values are picking up, which is one other indication of our recovery," he said, adding that even during the worldwide meltdown, a strongly diversified cluster of different financial services continued to function, thus reinforcing the structural strengths of London.
“We have strengths in banking, asset management, insurance, law, accountancy, maritime and a host of professional services. We have quality and quantity,” he said. The UK is Europe's largest international banking center with over half of European activities conducted there.
“The UK is top for global trading in derivatives. We lead the world for secondary trading in euro bonds (70 percent). We do 36 percent of world foreign exchange trading. We are the world's leading center in carbon emissions trading. We are second only to the US in fund management and global foreign exchange trading,” he added.
“You are clearly most important for us, more so as Saudi Arabia is a key G-20 player. With the strong presence of international financial institutions and the opportunities they provide together with our knowledge and development of public private partnerships (PPP) and growth of expertise in Islamic banking, London should be your preferred choice. Come and open your offices in London,” he added.
About 24 banks in Britain provide Islamic investment services. He said the UK is well-prepared to receive more capital funds from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
