UK Saudi relations

Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom have long been close allies, and the breadth and depth of Britain’s relationship with the Kingdom continues to increase. Regular and numerous high level visits at Prime Ministerial and Ministerial level underline the importance of our bilateral relationship, while continuing close contact between the British and Saudi royal families highlights the range of the relationship.

In the 90s the UK/Saudi relationship could have been characterised as a house built on two solid pillars; the defence and trade relationships. To these two traditional pillars we have added a number of others. Broadly, these cover a shared interest in ensuring regional stability, our partnership on counter-terrorism, and co-operation in the area of education and training. Most recently an increased focus on both energy and climate security have generated a sixth pillar in the bilateral relationship.

In brief: Two-way trade between our two Kingdoms continues to grow. Commercial partnerships are flourishing and UK visible and invisible exports are valued at more than US$9 billion. Saudi Arabia remains by far the United Kingdom's largest market for goods and services outside the OECD, and the most significant trade & investment partner in the Middle East. The UK is also the second largest foreign investor here.

The UK and Saudi Arabia have a number of cultural and educational links. There is a large and successful sports co-operation programme involving now over 75 training exchanges annually. The UK through the British Council is partnering with Saudi Arabia on a broad range of education-related activity. This includes advice on English language teaching, school leadership, institutional partnerships and qualifications and accreditation. We also value the significant and growing number of Saudi students at UK academic institutions.

In 1999, the UK became the first predominantly Christian country to organise an official Hajj delegation to assist some 20,000 British pilgrims. It included members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and volunteers from the Muslim community. This has been repeated every year since.