Ryan FowlerMore than £360m of joint UK–Saudi investment has been announced at the GREAT FUTURES Summit in London, with 187 jobs set to be created across both countries, including 97 in the UK.
The package covers a range of sectors, with transport and logistics highlighted by Saudi company Alfanar’s decision to launch its new UK headquarters in London.
The London office will act as a global hub for Alfanar’s transport decarbonisation work and oversee £94m of investment.
This includes support for the £2bn Lighthouse Green Fuels project in Teesside, which aims to become the world’s largest sustainable aviation fuel facility. Around 80 new jobs are expected to be created in the UK as a result of this initiative.
Other announcements from the summit included International Investment Gate establishing its European headquarters in London, Control Risks opening a new regional office in Riyadh, and insurance group Howden launching a reinsurance business in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Department for Business and Trade, more than £3.7bn in UK–Saudi deals have been secured since the launch of the GREAT FUTURES campaign in 2024, creating over 4,100 jobs in the UK to date.
The Government said the latest investment comes as negotiations continue on a modern trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which it estimates could boost UK–Gulf trade by 16%, add £1.6bn to GDP annually and increase UK workers’ wages by £600m in the long term.
