UK finance minister to join Saudi investment summit and hold Gulf trade talks

By David Milliken

LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves will attend an investment summit in Saudi Arabia on Monday and seek to advance trade talks with other Gulf countries, in what officials said was the first visit to the region by a British finance minister in six years.

Saudi Arabia will host its flagship gathering of global political leaders and company chief executives in Riyadh this week, and Reeves expects to meet senior Saudi royals, members of President Donald Trump's administration and business figures.

Last year Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund bought a 15% stake in London's Heathrow Airport from Spanish construction company Ferrovial and Britain said it expected further investment announcements this week.

New state-owned airline Riyadh Air, which ordered 25 partly British-built Airbus A350 aircraft in June, has announced its inaugural flight will be to Heathrow.

Reeves also intends to speak with her counterparts from Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar to try to progress a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council - a six-nation group with which successive British administrations have sought to reach an agreement after leaving the European Union in 2020.

"She is expected to set out an ambition to work constructively towards this ... in her conversations with Gulf counterparts, while being honest over areas of divergence and cultural differences," Britain's finance ministry said.

Trade minister Chris Bryant told parliament this month that talks with the GCC were at "an advanced stage", despite concerns from trade unions close to the Labour Party about poor rights for workers and other perceived abuses in the region.

Britain's finance ministry said it estimated a GCC trade deal would add 1.6 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) a year to British economic output - equivalent to about 0.06% of annual gross domestic product.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last year.

($1 = 0.7451 pounds)

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Barbara Lewis)