The city of Birmingham in the UK and Abu Dhabi’s municipal government have signed a ground-breaking agreement that will see both sides benefit in quite unique ways. The Leader of Birmingham City Council, Mike Whitby, joined His Excellency Rashid Mubarak Al Hajeri, Chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA), at the Council House in Birmingham City Centre, to sign a formal ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU). This is the latest step in a growing relationship between Birmingham and Abu Dhabi that started when Cllr Whitby visited the Emirates in 2009. Since then the city has welcomed a series of inward investment delegations. Under the terms of the agreement Birmingham City Council will offer support, advice and consultancy to help the DMA set up and develop a local government structure in Abu Dhabi. In exchange, officials from Abu Dhabi will offer Birmingham direct support in facilitating meetings and introductions, and advising and advocating credentials, to some of the most important and able private and state backed investors across the UAE and the Gulf. The city of Birmingham is keen to showcase itself as an investment friendly city to rival London. Councillor Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “This partnership offers fantastic opportunities for Birmingham to gain direct access to some of the most ambitious investors in the world. Though this is based on mutual benefit this MOU has been signed with genuine warmth and friendship that will be the basis of its success.” “For too long the rest of the world has only really had London pushed as the major investment possibility in the UK. Today we are starting the journey that says that Birmingham offers unrivalled opportunity as a city ripe for global investment.” H.E. Rashid Mubarak Hajeri, said: “We’re keen to show the world how we’re transforming Abu Dhabi and working to make our 2030 vision a reality. By partnering with Birmingham City Council, we can learn from their experiences to inform and drive our ambitious plans and achieve recognition for our accomplishments so far.” Cllr Whitby continued: “We have been looking to develop the many commercial and cross cultural opportunities that exist for the city of Birmingham outside of the UK, and in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi we have found a partner that parallels our thinking and our vision of excellence. It is also a great endorsement of our city that from the entire world they have chosen Birmingham as the model for how to develop successful local governance structures.” The MOU will be effective for 5 years, with an option to further extend the arrangement into the future. It builds on the launch earlier this month of “Business Birmingham”, the city’s new inward investment strategy which aims to deliver 7,000 jobs over the next four years by attracting investment into sectors identified as key strengths of the city. These include financial services, transport technologies; shared services and business process outsourcing and emerging opportunities such as digital media, low carbon R&D and medical technologies.
