Oliver Dowden has said he hopes a free trade agreement with Gulf countries will be concluded this year as officials familiar with the talks said they were drawing closer to a deal.
The deputy prime minister, who has been attending a business conference in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, said the government had prioritised concluding the deal with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
“People forget the GCC is actually the fourth-largest trading partner for the UK,” Dowden told The Times.
“I’m hopeful of course,” he said when asked whether a deal would be concluded by the end of the year. “But as ever, just as the GCC need to get the best deal, we
