Technology Secretary Peter Kyle will host a delegation of Saudi Arabian government officials as part of a showcase event designed to encourage investment from the Middle Eastern kingdom.
Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha will join Kyle (pictured) on Friday, who will demonstrate economic opportunities in fields such as quantum computing, autonomous vehicles and health tech.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, with total assets held estimated to be well over $900bn (£664bn).
“When I visited Saudi Arabia earlier this year, I was struck by the speed and ambition with which the kingdom has seized onto the potential of science and tech breakthroughs, to create the jobs and industries of the future,” said Kyle.
“It made me realise how much the UK stands to benefit from working with countries with bold ambitions for their economies.
“I want Saudi Arabia’s scientists, businesses and investors to know that Britain is determined to rise to that challenge and be equally ambitious partners in that endeavour.”
As part of the tour, Science Minister Lord Vallance will join Alswaha on a visit to Oxford Science Park as part of his efforts to drum up support for the government’s plan to establish a global technology hub in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.
Vallance’s predecessor, former Conservative science minister Andrew Griffith who is now shadow business secretary, struck a deal to collaborate on deep tech research as part of his visit to the nation last year.
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