He was received by His Excellency Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of DIFC and Vice Chairman of the UAE Central Bank and some of the UAE's and Dubai's prominent government officials and business leaders.
The Prime Minister attended a panel discussion on current economic issues and an event held to promote cooperation between business communities and greater interaction between young business leaders in both regions.
His Excellency Gordon Brown, who is the UAE on a Gulf trip that also includes Qatar and Saudi Arabia, was accompanied on his visit to DIFC by the Right Honourable Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business and the Right Honourable Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Also accompanying him was a business delegation comprising of CEOs of British companies.
At DIFC, His Excellency Gordon Brown attended a meeting of the Young Arab Leaders (YAL) organisation and the British Business Group (BBG) who recently signed an agreement to advance business cooperation between the UK and the UAE.
HE Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman said: "The visit of His Excellency, the Right Honourable Gordon Brown gives us a chance to forge a new partnership to address some of issues we are facing in the current global economic situation. The interactions and exchanges taking place between government officials and business leaders of both countries will lead to new approaches and strategies to stabilise global capital markets."
"The British business community is a very strong partner in the growth of the UAE. Many British companies are also active participants in the global financial services community here in DIFC. The Dubai International Financial Centre seeks to build productive linkages and promote cooperation with financial business communities across the world. As part of this, we will be actively working with the UK's financial industry to turn the challenges presented by the current global economic situation into new opportunities for growth."
The UK is strongly represented on the financial services community in DIFC, which today has over 700 companies from across the world. Over 30% of CEO's of DIFC companies are UK nationals, while 16 per cent of the community is comprised of British nationals.
Earlier, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown attended a UK-UAE business panel discussion held at DIFC. The panel exchanged ideas on a variety of topics including future investment strategies; opportunities created by the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015; innovation and entrepreneurship; the potential for UAE-UK partnerships, and the role DIFC can play in enhancing business relationships between the UK and the region.
Prime Minister Brown's visit is the first by a British Prime Minister to the UAE since his predecessor Tony Blair's visit in December 2006.
