Michael Fallon Eyes Kazakh Trade Deals

Michael Fallon Eyes £65bn Kazakh Trade Deals


The Business Minister will target the deepening of trade
ties to bolster the UK economy, Sky News understands.


5:52pm UK,
Saturday 16 February 2013

The Business Minister will fly to Kazakhstan to bolster
trade

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  By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
  
  Michael Fallon, the Business Minister, will fly to Kazakhstan on
  Sunday in an attempt to help British companies win a share of $100bn (£65bn) in
  new trade deals.
  
  Mr Fallon, who was promoted in last autumn's Cabinet reshuffle, will visit
  resource-rich Kazakhstan aiming to bang the drum for companies with a big
  presence there, including BG Group, the gas producer, and Rio Tinto, the mining
  group.
  
  Trade ties between Britain and Kazakhstan are relatively modest in scale,
  with UK exports to Kazakhstan in 2011 standing at £530m, and UK imports just
  £459m.
  
  British companies have won $7bn (£4.5bn) in contracts in Kazakhstan in the
  last ten years, but Mr Fallon believes the opportunity is much more substantial
  than that, with up to 15 times that sum available in contracts during the next
  decade.
  
  "The French and the Germans are already there, on the ground, and we have to
  be relentless in pursuing opportunities for British trade," he said.
  
  His trip will be the first by a business minister since the last general
  election to the central Asian country.
  
  During talks with ministers and government officials, Mr Fallon is also
  expected to discuss the operations of GlaxoSmithKline and HSBC, which also have
  a presence in Kazakhstan.
  
  Tens of millions of Britons do already have an exposure to the Kazakh economy
  through investments made by pension funds in companies such as ENRC, the
  FTSE-100 miner.
  
  Mr Fallon's trip to Kazakhstan will come in the same week that David Cameron
  travels to India accompanied by the biggest-ever business delegation to visit
  the country.
  
  The Prime Minister is expected to promote access to the vast Indian market
  for British retailers as well as discuss a string of major defence and aerospace
  deals.
  
  His visit takes place amid deepening concerns that the UK's trade ties with
  India are faltering, placing the Coalition's target of doubling trade by 2015 in
  doubt.
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  Boris visited India very recently and came back with a Contract for 2 Indian Films to be made in Britain, obviously spurred Cameron and the Trade Minister into action.