Fox pulls out of Saudi summit

TRADE minister Liam Fox yesterday pulled out of the ‘Davos in the desert’ summit in Saudi Arabia over the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He was due to fly in to the capital Riyadh next week to give a speech at the investment conference but had been under pressure to scrap the plans.

His decision to cancel the trip came after the French and Dutch governments announced their finance ministers would not go. The Government has come under criticism for its close ties with the kingdom despite its alleged human rights abuses and its bombing of Yemen.

Figures revealed yesterday showed UK military sales to Saudi Arabia soared by two thirds from 2016 to 2017, an increase of more than £450 million.

A Government spokesman said Dr Fox had decided ‘the time is not right’ for him to attend the conference. A statement said: ‘The UK remains very concerned about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. We encourage TurkishSaudi collaboration and look forward to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced.’

Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, said: ‘I will not go to Riyadh. The conditions are not right.’ He was followed by Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch finance minister.

Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, and a number of highprofile business executives have also backed out. It came as Britain’s cosy relationship with Saudi Arabia was brought into question yesterday.

Figures from the Department for International Trade showed the UK issued 126 licences relating to military goods in 2017, with a value of £1.129 billion.

This is compared to 103 licences in 2016, with a value of £679million, the figures uncovered by Sky News revealed.

The number of so-called ‘secret’ open licences doubled across the 12 months, from 21 to 44, meaning the real figure could be much higher. Campaign groups have lambasted open licences, because they allow an uncapped number of items to be sent to another country for five years.

Andrew Smith, of Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: ‘The humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen is the worst in the world. UK-made fighter jets and bombs have played a central role in the destruction. These figures reveal that as the situation has got worse the arms sales have increased.’

A DfIT spokesman said: ‘The Government takes its export responsibilities very seriously.’