British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will use visits to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on Monday to drive investment into cities and regions across the UK.
Mr Starmer is set to pursue closer ties with the countries to increase investment, deepen defence and security ties, and boost growth and new opportunities.
The north of England will reap the immediate benefits from the closer co-operation with Graphene Innovation Manchester announcing on Monday the launch of the world’s first commercial production of graphene-enriched carbon fibre, with Saudi Arabia’s Neom Giga-Project.
The groundbreaking project progresses environmentally sustainable advanced materials and aims to generate £250 million ($318 million) of investment into a research and innovation centre in Greater Manchester, expected to create more than 1,000 skilled jobs in the region.
“I am in the Gulf forging closer ties and strengthening relationships that support our growth mission in every corner of the country," Mr Starmer said.
“I am determined to ensure international diplomacy drives local results, whether that is discussing how we can support regeneration in the UK or supporting business deals that create jobs. My international agenda starts at home.”
Further boosting the green-energy relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia, Oxford-based private equity fund Hycap is supporting Saudi Arabia’s plans to reach net zero emissions by 2060 by investing £785 million to develop hydrogen mobility clusters in Northern Ireland and across the UK, creating more than 1,000 jobs.
The project will deliver hydrogen buses, trucks, critical components and other elements of hydrogen production and distribution, while removing more than 25 million tonnes of transport-related CO2 over the lifetime of the project.
The UK and Saudi Arabia are also working together to establish a new Joint International Institute for Clean Hydrogen.
The institute will be backed by a consortium of Saudi and British universities, including a leading role for Newcastle University, and develop expertise and skills in clean energy.
“Today’s agreements show how the UK is working with countries in the Gulf and elsewhere around the world to bring investment and jobs to Britain," Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.
“Clean energy can be the source of the jobs of the future and these new investments and partnerships will deliver new jobs in new industries, boosting our country’s energy independence and our economic growth.
“This is the government’s Plan for Change in action, to make us a clean energy superpower and deliver a decade of renewal."
This month, UK cleantech leader Carbon Clean signed a collaboration with Saudi company Aramco to collaborate on innovative modular carbon-capture technology, aiming to create 2,000 UK jobs.
UK based Sustainable Cement Company, Next Generation SCM and Saudi-based City Cement Company have also linked up to produce 2.5 million tonnes a year of sustainable cement and concrete materials. The pioneering process is expected to drive £200 million of investment over the next five years and create more than 200 jobs in Saudi Arabia and the UK.
Greater Manchester is also benefitting from significant Saudi investment in housing, with International Investment Gate injecting £41 million into the regeneration of Brunswick Mill in Stockport, creating 277 flats and 24 commercial outlets.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SERIES INFO
Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series
All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Test series
1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March
Play starts at 9.30am
T20 series
1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March
TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The five pillars of Islam
Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
