Covid-19 has forced many of us to be fired or leave paintings at home for months.While it was a delight for some to reconnect with our families and communities, it was also, for many, a moment of concern.whether our jobs will be or if our grocery shopping streets will return to normal.The UK has become accustomed to thinking that we are a service economy.It is true that it is this component of the economy that is at the front line of But at the same time, some other component of the economy has supported British jobs and helped our forces stay away from our adversaries.
But our aerospace industry is not just a national fear, its exports amount to 34 billion pounds.In natural defense products, we are the world’s largest exporter of defense products and our brands of security products are breaking records in cyber generation and sensors.allow us to pay the most productive for the men and women of the services.No country that needs to be one step ahead of our enemies, not even America, can’t export.That’s why we’ll soon publish a trade defense strategy in parallel with the Integrated Review.
The review, which we are in the process of lately, will be the most thorough and in-depth review of foreign and defence policy in decades.As Secretary of Defense, I recognize that we desperately want to reform and modernize our armed forces.forces if we are to deal with emerging threats. For too long, we have had a sentimental attachment to a concentrated static and armored force design anchored in Europe, while our festival has spread around the world.If we really want to play our role as ‘Global Britain’, we want to be more capable in new areas, allowing us to be active in more theaters.But the review will not only focus on foreign policy and defense operations, but will also recognize the importance of research, skills and the aerospace industry.Without them, our forces can threaten to waste the merits of the victory we will desire in this increasingly dubious and troubled world.
So this week I will visit Oman and Qatar.This is not a sales exercise, but a confirmation of our relationship and not of unusual interests.Unlike some “fly at night” partners, the UK has been with the region’s wonderful peoples and nations for over a hundred years.We have recognized, as a trading nation, that the stability of the Gulf and our stability are intertwined.Before oil, before aerospace, we were there.We are not right, however, the UK has had an inherent love for the region.More than a century ago, we understood the sensitive but important importance of balancing strategic interests and, infrequently, in competition from wonderful empires like the Ottoman.And we were also there when the empires withdrew and new powers emerged: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, joining old friends like Oman.
In my constituency, I have a classic cotton factory that, to this day, manufactures premium shemaghs.It began as a partnership between the owner of a Lancashire factory and a Saudi businessman in the 1920s.owns the plant and the association continues.
He said “British bread hangs over Lancashire.”Like the factory, the partnership between the Middle East and the aerospace industry continues to gain mutual advantages from all of us.