Ren Zhengfei (right), Huawei Founder and Chief Executive Officer, during a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron.HUAWEI, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has committed to investing $1 billion (£650 million) and to spend another $1 billion (£650 million) in procurement in the UK over the next five years. In a meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Lord Green, Minister of State for Business, Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, outlined the company's long-term commitment to the UK through further investment in research and development, local procurement and center of excellence initiatives. Thanks to the UK's open economy and foreign investment initiatives, Huawei already employs over 800 people in the UK and has today committed to increasing its workforce to over 1,500 by 2017. As part of this commitment Huawei will invest in a number of global centers of technical and financial excellence in the UK. Huawei works with all the major telecommunication operators and broadband service providers in the UK, making a significant contribution to the national broadband strategy and the fulfillment of ubiquitous, ultra-fast, fixed and mobile broadband across the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The investment announced by Huawei today demonstrates once again that the UK is open for business. I welcome this and I want to see more companies invest in the UK as we work to achieve sustainable and balanced growth within our economy. The British Government values the important relationship with China, both countries have much to offer each other and the business environment we are creating in the UK allows us to maximize this potential." Ren Zhengfei, Huawei Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The UK is one of the most important European markets in which Huawei has invested. Over the past eleven years we have found its Government to be transparent, efficient and practical. The UK is an open market, which welcomes overseas investment, I am therefore very pleased to be announcing the $2 billion investment and procurement plan promoting the development of openness and free trade." Ren added: ‘‘The UK is a center of innovation, has a highly skilled workforce, and is respected internationally for the quality of its legal and educational systems. It is for these reasons we have selected the UK as the location for a number of our centers of excellence. I would like to thank our UK customers and partners, as well as the British Government, for their continued support." Within the Middle East, Huawei's main headquarters are located in Bahrain with offices across 10 countries consisting of over 3,500 employees—of whom over 62 percent are local hires. – SG
