The United Arab Emirates is keen to strike a post-Brexit free-trade deal between the UK and Gulf states as soon as possible, its foreign minister has said. Anwar Gargash said UK engagement with the Gulf had appeared to wane during three years of preoccupation with Brexit, but he now hoped for a rapid trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The prospect of a quick deal with an economic bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman will be welcomed by trade negotiators scrabbling to forge deals before the Brexit transition period ends. Between them, the GCC nations have a GDP of £2.8  trillion. The UAE alone is the UK’s largest export market in the Middle East and the 13th biggest globally....