| BRITAIN
- THE NATURAL CHOICE FOR INVESTING IN EUROPE
by Andrew Fraser, Chief Executive,
Invest in Britain Bureau
The UK attracts more foreign
direct investment than any other developed
country in the world apart from the United
States. Foreign investors, mainly from North
America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region,
produced an all-time record of 618 projects
last year. Britain also accounts for some
40% of all US and Japanese investment in the
European Union and within the single market
itself, cross-border investment is far higher
into the UK than any other country.
So why the popularity? It is
a familiar story: a deregulated and flexible
economy, low labour costs, tightly controlled
inflation accompanied by rapid growth, low
business and personal taxes all backed by
a hard-working, English-speaking workforce
with a high level of skills. Couple these
attractions with world-class business expertise;
London's strength as a global financial centre;
a strong commitment to the single European
market; the right intellectual property rules;
tax-free opportunities for research and development;
the lack of foreign exchange controls or restrictions
on repatriated profits, and you have a winning
recipe for profitability.
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