British Prime Minister Theresa May is to meet Gulf leaders who yesterday opened their annual summit in Bahrain, for talks on trade ties after Britain leaves the European Union.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman of Saudi Arabia opened the summit with a call for “doubling of efforts” to face regional challenges.
May was expected to meet the leaders later yesterday before addressing the summit today, when she will become the first British premier and the first woman to attend the annual gathering of the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states.
Defence ties are also expected to be high on the agenda as Britain builds a new naval base in Bahrain, while advocacy groups have urged May to raise human rights concerns.
May’s two-day visit comes 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 co-operation on security and defence,” May said before arriving in Manama late on Monday.
Her office said May will discuss possibilities for post-Brexit free trade arrangements with the GCC states - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
“As the UK leaves the EU, we should seize the opportunity to forge a new trade arrangement between the UK and the Gulf,” the British premier said.
Ahead of the summit, May yesterday met King Salman, Bahrain’s King Hamad, the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
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.
May told 300 Royal Navy officers aboard HMS Ocean that she wanted to “step up our defence and security co-operation to keep British citizens safe at home and abroad”.
Britain’s force already stationed in Bahrain was “a clear demonstration of the UK’s enduring security commitment to the Gulf”, she said.