Burnham and Sultan of Oman Sign Billion Pound Deals at Downing Street

Andy Burnham has hailed Britain and Oman as "two of the oldest friends" as he hosted Sultan Haitham bin Tarik at 10 Downing Street, in their first face-to-face meeting, for talks that turned the ceremonial splendour of the state visit into hard commercial agreements.

The centrepiece of the day was a memorandum of understanding between Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology and Yamna, a British infrastructure development and investment company, to build a large scale artificial intelligence data centre in Salalah. The first phase of the project is expected to exceed 1 billion pounds and to create more than 100 skilled jobs in the UK.

Alongside it, the Oman Investment Authority signed a memorandum with the UK's Office for Investment to promote investment flows between the two countries, building on the UK-Oman Sovereign Investment Partnership signed in 2022. The agreement spans renewable energy, technology, critical minerals, space, healthcare and financial services. Oman has invested 1.7 billion pounds in Britain since the partnership was created.

UK Export Finance, the Government's export credit agency, will increase its financing capacity for British exports to Oman to as much as 7 billion pounds. UK exports to the sultanate were worth 1.1 billion pounds in the four quarters to the end of March.

Letters on space and the classroom

Two letters of intent were also exchanged. The first commits the UK Space Agency and the Omani government to closer cooperation on space policy, scientific research and innovation. The second, signed by the British Council and Oman's education ministry, will pilot the responsible use of artificial intelligence in Omani secondary schools, supporting English language learning and helping teachers use AI safely in the classroom.

Dr Madiha Al Shaibani, Oman's education minister, said the pilot would strengthen pupils' spoken and written English and prepare them for the labour market, with safeguards for students and their data built in from the start.

"You can rely on our continued support"

Welcoming the Sultan in Downing Street, Mr Burnham said he had been struck by the speeches at Tuesday night's state banquet at Windsor Castle, where the King praised Oman's mediation in the Middle East. "We are two of the oldest friends collaborating for centuries, and that is such a deep tradition for us to draw on," the Prime Minister said.

The Sultan, who holds no elected office but wields absolute power in Muscat, responded that his presence in London was "to continue that relation", telling Mr Burnham: "Oman has played a great role in whatever we have been able to attain. I think we always hope that the situation will go back to normal, and we are working on it."

The two leaders then chaired an expanded session of talks covering the war with Iran and the security of the Gulf, where the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to much shipping since February. Oman, which faces Iran across the strait, has been central to back channel efforts to reopen the waterway.

A growth moment before the Budget

For the Prime Minister, the optics could hardly have been better timed. A week before John Healey's first Budget, and with borrowing costs at their highest in decades, No 10 was able to point to more than a billion pounds of inward investment and a queue of British firms ready to do business with the Gulf. Tonight the Sultan was the guest of honour at a banquet at the Guildhall in the City, accompanied by the Duke of Gloucester, before his visit concludes on Thursday.