A few days ago, President Sarkozy completed a high profile tour of the Gulf. He came back with plaudits from his hosts and contracts for French companies in a region where, historically, British interests have been strong.
This is part of a pattern. The Blair and Brown governments have not given enough priority to our traditional friends in the Gulf. Too often, they have left the running to our competitors. And the Gulf leaders have noticed.
The Gulf is a region enjoying rapid economic growth (some reports say half the cranes in the world are in Dubai) where countries are making huge efforts to diversify away from dependence on oil and gas. It is a region of moderate arab regimes - the very countries which we hope will work to build a stable set of security arrangements in the Middle East. We should stop taking old friends for granted.
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