AFP, Dubai :
British Prime Minister Theresa May is to join Gulf Arab leaders at a summit in Bahrain on Tuesday for talks on trade after Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Defence ties are also expected to loom high on the agenda as Britain builds a new naval base in Bahrain. Advocacy groups urged May to use the opportunity to raise human rights concerns too.
She is the first British premier and the first woman to attend the annual summit of the six oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Her two days of talks come as her government faces mounting domestic criticism that it has not done enough to avoid post-Brexit disruption to British trade, which is currently carried out under EU agreements.
“I will have the opportunity to talk to all six leaders about how we can develop our trade relationship, as well as cooperation on security and defence,” May said ahead of her arrival in the Bahraini capital Manama late on Monday.
May will discuss the possibilities for post-Brexit free trade arrangements with the six GCC states-Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, her office said.
“As the UK leaves the EU, we should seize the opportunity to forge a new trade arrangement between the UK and the Gulf,” May said.
