At Links Group we are of the view that the UK’s decision to exit the European Union is unlikely to impact British-owned companies operating in the UAE. Why? Because the UAE remains one of the UK’s most important trade partners with the two nations aiming to double their reciprocal trade to GBP25 billion by 2020. Brexit is unlikely to have any material effect on this aspiration.

Indeed, economic links between the UAE and UK continue to strengthen year-on-year. In 2015 UAE imports from the UK reached AED 24.6 billion and this is on track to increase in 2016. There are also enormous export opportunities from the UAE to the UK.

Spearheading these economic ties is an ambitious UAE-UK Business Council, which is not an EU entity. In our view the EU is irrelevant to the bilateral trade arrangement between the UAE and UK. We should also note that the UK was a powerful political ally to the UAE prior to joining the EU and will continue to be post Brexit.

At Links Group, approximately 45% of our client base originates from the UK – since trade flow between the two countries is unlikely to be affected, it will be business as usual for Links Group and we may also see a higher spike in UK companies looking to internationalise to the Middle East.