I should open my remarks in this issue by saying a little about the World Future Energy Summit held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in January. There is plenty more on other pages, but I thought that the organisation of the event was superb. I have been to many exhibitions, but I thought that this was particularly impressive and a massive leap forward in organisational and presentational terms from previous exhibitions.

The opening ceremony was faultless and the speakers were very impressive, including, of course, our own Prince Charles who made an appearance, virtually. The Duke of York also addressed the conference, as did a number of other notable UK speakers, including Sir Jonathan Porritt, Lord Browne and Sir Norman Foster. It was very good to see such a heavy UK presence.

As well as the heavyweights such as BP, Shell, IP and Rolls Royce, the UK brought out a mission of around 12 companies to exhibit. They said that the experience was memorable and they were able, with a little help, to meet Crown Prince HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, HRH the Duke of York, the Secretary-General of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, EAD, Majid Al Mansouri, and many of the Masdar team. As a result of the interest they aroused, many of the companies are already signing up for next year’s event. The British Business Group committee members made full use of the UK stand by being available to help and advise as well as distribute Capital Letter. It is being read in high places!

We were also involved in a UKTI/British Expertise construction seminar at the Royal Meridien at the beginning of February. This was a very good opportunity for the UK speakers to demonstrate what the UK does well. The event was well attended and had the bonus of resulting on some on-the-spot business discussions. The following day saw site visits to Yas Island and Reem Island. We followed up with something else the British do exceptionally well, curry.

On my horizon are a couple of visits to Abu Dhabi, hopefully by Sir Digby Jones, our new Minister (who has written for us previously), and another officialvisitbyamember of the royal family.

On a different note, and one that readers may ask themselves occasionally: What does the Commercial section at the Embassy do? In fairness, I should answer the question! In a nutshell, and convincingly I hope, our work covers a number of areas. We support would-be UK exporters to Abu Dhabi, including investors. We meet visiting businessmen on the ground and talk over the relative advantages of Abu Dhabi and give background on the way the Emirate is developing. We highlight opportunities that we identify through our contacts and research here and direct them to a relevant UK body. We carry out market research for specificenquiries(thebulkofourwork).We promote specificpartsofUKexpertise,such as the Financial Sector and the Construction Sector.

We are also able to lobby on behalf of UK companies in Abu Dhabi, should they be chasing a particular project or tender. We do this after close consultation with the company and according to an agreed strategy. We charge UK companies for a lot of the work we carry out so that the taxpayer does not have to bear our full cost. I hope this explains a little of what we do but I would be happy to go into greater detail with any reader who requires further information

.Finally, I have great pleasure in welcoming Omar Al Busaidy to our Embassy. Omar joined the commercial section at the beginning of January and he is our firstEmiratiemployeeinrecenthistory. We are very pleased to have him and I know he will work his way around many of you over the coming months.