In an effort to bolster the flagging UK economy, British ministers and politicians have been ordered to lobby cash-rich emerging economies during this summer’s Olympic Games in an effort to win contracts worth billions.
Nations such as China and Brazil are set to be the key targets of a lobbying campaign of an unprecedented scale. According to the Independent newspaper there is a list of over 50 investment projects that ministers and civil servants have been ordered to win over the course of the Olympic Games, a number that beats even the medal expectations of team GB. The list includes construction contracts for Russian railways, Brazilian shipyards and deep-water drilling off the coast of Mexico. It is estimated that the contracts could be worth more than £4billion and would provide a healthy dose of medicine for the UK economy.
The target list of 50 deals, drawn up by economists at the UK Trade and Investment arm of the Government, is dominated by construction, energy and infrastructure projects.
The list also includes: decommissioning Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant; building hospitals in Kuwait; new airports in Saudi Arabia, Beijing and Hong Kong; laying railways in India, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines; and oil production in Brazil.
Apparently Ministers have each been allocated specific target countries to try to close deals in the 50 projects. Many of the high-value deals are in the burgeoning “BRIC” economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China or in the Gulf. There are also reconstruction and oil deals going in Libya and Iraq.
Competition for the contracts is set to be fierce as the contests for gold medals as foreign nations establish their own stalls in a bid to snatch the contracts.
Pervez Ghauri, professor of international business at Kings College, London, said: “Lobbying for the target of £4 billion during the Olympic Games is realistic if not rather conservative. British firms should be able to achieve this target easily, and if they play their cards well, should be able to get further and continuous projects for a long time to come.”
Prime minister David Cameron hopes that the games could generate a windfall of up to £13 billion for the UK but it remains to be seen if the British ministers can emulate team GB and come away with a haul of golden contracts or come away empty handed.
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