Mayor heads to Far East to boost trade and investment for capital

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will build on his work to create jobs and growth, and promote London to the world as a major investment destination as he leads a trade mission to Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur this week.

The Mayor will be accompanied by a delegation of the capital’s top business leaders from key sectors including financial and investment services, and construction and design. The Mayor’s delegation will be supported in the region by a parallel UKTI mission made up of London’s emerging small technology and science related businesses, part of the Mayor’s Export programme which aims to assist companies entering overseas markets for the first time.

Over six days he will meet senior politicians, business leaders and investors in some of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies, to champion investment opportunities in London and the UK by forging closer ties with the three cities. The UK is the second largest European investor in Singapore, and Singapore’s fourth biggest EU trading partner, after Germany, France and the Netherlands. Indonesia has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, ranking 16th largest and set to soar to fifth largest by 2030.

Like London, Jakarta is dealing with an unprecedented population growth – it is Indonesia’s largest city in a country with a population of more than 245 million people. New legislation in Malaysia is propelling the liberalisation of the engineering and architectural sectors, with several major public infrastructure projects under way in Kuala Lumpur for UK firms to be involved with.

During the trip the Mayor will meet senior politicians and leaders in all three countries including the Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Ahmad Phesal Talib, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Abdul Razak and the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, to discuss the key issues facing growing cities and ways to build on future UK investment opportunities.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “It is vital to continue to bang the drum loudly for the capital’s status as a world class destination for business, jobs and innovation. The truly dynamic cities of Singapore, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur are delivering exciting infrastructure and regeneration at a fast pace and are the perfect partners for London to share knowledge and expertise across many important sectors. By strengthening ties we secure long standing relationships that will form the basis of an abundance of opportunities for Londoners and people for the Far East to work together on future possibilities.”

The Mayor will turn the spotlight on London’s world-beating financial technology industry during the trip. Growing faster than anywhere else in the world, the capital’s FinTech sector now employs more than 44,000 people and the industry generates £20 billion in annual revenue across the UK.

The Mayor will be joined in Singapore by a delegation from some of London’s most dynamic new tech firms who will be pitching their innovative projects to major Singaporean investors.

He will also be joined by senior executives and scientists from London’s internationally-renowned Kew Gardens, which is looking to build on its historic partnership with Singapore’s acclaimed Botanic Gardens, with a range of joint scientific exchange projects, including a fellowship awarded by the Botanic Garden to Kew, exploring the diversity of fungi in South East Asia.

Whilst in the region, the Mayor will address top level business groups and investors, and deliver a major speech to 200 of Malaysia’s top business and political leaders, including the Prime Minister, at the Khazanah Global Lecture.

Previous speakers include Dr Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India and Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of United Nations.