Prime minister David Cameron has urged Singaporean investors to plough more money into the UK’s northern powerhouse, and for domestic investors to use the city state as an investment gateway to Asia.
Speaking at an event for UK companies and Singaporean investors held at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Singapore, Cameron said he wanted to see the two countries build on their “great” trade and investment relationship.
“I want to see more investment from Singapore and from south-east Asia into the UK,” he said. “Don’t just look at London and the south east, look at what’s available in the great cities of the north of England. And don’t just look at them individually, look at them as this combination as a northern powerhouse.”
Cameron addressed a 400-strong audience that included representatives from property advisers in London and Asia, real estate-focused banks, and Asian investors that have already placed money in the UK. The northern powerhouse mission – comprising companies and local authorities from the region – were also present.
The prime minster also called on UK investors to look east. “Let us invest more in Singapore and south east Asia. It’s time for us to trade and invest more with the fastest growing parts of the world,” he said.
Cameron is on a tour of the region and had earlier used a speech in Singapore to promise to expose the use of anonymous shell companies to buy property in the UK, in a speech in Singapore.
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