Britain said on Wednesday it had secured a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council worth $5bn a year in the long run, deepening economic ties with allies in a region dealing with the fallout from the Iran war.

The deal with the GCC, which consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, comes after US-Israeli strikes against Iran in February triggering Iranian attacks on other countries in the region, putting strain on energy and food supplies.

“At a time of increased instability, today’s announcement sends a clear signal of confidence – giving UK exporters the certainty they need to plan ahead,” Britain’s Trade Minister Peter Kyle said.

The British government said the deal would be worth £3.7bn ($4.96bn) each year in the long term, more than double a previous estimate that it would be worth £1.6bn, as the final deal went further on both trade liberalisation and service sector commitments than previously expected.

The deal will remove 93 per cent of GCC tariffs on British goods, equivalent to the removal of £580m worth of tariffs by the deal’s tenth year, with two-thirds of the tariffs being removed as soon as the deal comes into force.

The government said that autos, aerospace, electronics and food and drink would be among the sectors to benefit, with cereals, cheddar cheese, chocolate and butter all becoming tariff-free.

In return, Britain has lowered tariffs to the GCC, though the countries’ main exports to Britain, oil and gas, are already tariff-free.

The global television industry is at an inflection point. A new display architecture has arrived, and the company behind it has spent a decade building the manufacturing infrastructure to ensure it reaches the market on its own terms.

Premium consumer electronics markets are rarely shaped by consumer demand alone. More often, they are defined by what engineers make possible first. Companies that control the underlying manufacturing capability to deliver new display technologies at scale tend to set the direction of the industry for the decade that follows. The global television sector is once again at such a moment.

After years in which the premium display conversation was dominated by a two-technology dynamic, OLED on one side and Mini LED on the other, 2026 has introduced a new variable. A display architecture called SQD-Mini LED TV has entered commercial production. The company behind it, TCL, is the world’s No. 1 Mini LED TV brand and a leading manufacturer of ultra-large-screen television panels globally.

The technology is now being introduced in the UAE across three new models: the C7L, C8L, and flagship X11L SQD-Mini LED TVs.

A vertically integrated manufacturing strategy

The significance of this launch extends beyond product iteration. It represents another stage in a vertically integrated industrial strategy that TCL has been executing for nearly a decade.

Most television brands function primarily as assemblers. They source display panels from specialist manufacturers and compete through industrial design, software, and pricing strategies. TCL, by contrast, is structured around deep manufacturing integration through its panel production arm, TCL CSOT.

TCL CSOT operates multiple production lines backed by more than 300 billion RMB in cumulative investment. It holds a leading global position in 85-inch-and-above and 98-inch-and-above panel production categories. This structure allows TCL to move display technologies from laboratory development to mass production internally, without relying on external panel suppliers.

That manufacturing control has been central to TCL’s ability to introduce category-defining technologies early. It enabled the company to bring the world’s first Mini LED television to market in 2019, before Mini LED became a widely recognized premium standard.

The same structural advantage now underpins SQD-Mini LED TV in 2026.

What SQD-mini LED changes in display performance

Mini LED TV technology improves traditional LCD systems by replacing standard backlights with thousands of independently controlled miniature LEDs. This enables precise local dimming, improving contrast and brightness control significantly over earlier LCD generations.

Above this backlight sits a quantum dot layer, which converts blue LED light into a full spectrum of color output. However, standard quantum dot materials can lose color stability at very high brightness levels, particularly under the extreme luminance required for modern HDR content. As brightness increases, color accuracy can degrade, which becomes most noticeable in premium viewing scenarios.

TCL CSOT’s Super Quantum Dot material is designed to address this limitation. It maintains color accuracy across a much wider brightness range, reportedly supporting peak brightness levels up to 10,000 nits in flagship models.

A Super Condensed Micro Lens structure further refines light output by focusing LED backlighting more precisely, reducing light leakage across more than 20,000 local dimming zones. In parallel, an All-Domain Halo Control algorithm manages zone interactions to reduce blooming, an optical halo effect around bright objects against dark backgrounds, long considered a limitation of Mini LED systems.

Together, these technologies aim to close the perceptual gap between Mini LED and emissive displays, bringing contrast performance closer to OLED-level precision while operating at far higher brightness levels than OLED panels can sustain.

The durability profile is also a key differentiator. SQD-Mini LED TV’s inorganic backlight system is rated at approximately 60,000 hours of operation, compared with roughly 30,000 hours for organic OLED panels, and it carries no risk of burn-in.

The same manufacturing advantage that enabled TCL’s first Mini LED television in 2019 is again central to this new architecture in 2026.

The UAE as a strategic launch market

The UAE launch reflects a deliberate regional strategy. Demand for ultra-large premium televisions, particularly those 75 inches and above, has been growing at a faster rate in the UAE than in many other global markets.

Environmental conditions also play a role. Homes across the UAE often feature strong natural light exposure, which makes high peak brightness a meaningful advantage in everyday viewing conditions. In such environments, luminance directly affects perceived picture quality more than in lower-light markets.

Consumer behavior is another factor. The region tends to exhibit strong adoption of premium electronics and shorter replacement cycles compared to global averages, making it a strategic testing ground for new high-end display technologies.

The lineup is structured across three tiers. The C7L TV (65–98 inches) delivers the core SQD-Mini LED architecture with a 144Hz panel and 288Hz Game Accelerator. The C8L TV (65–98 inches) builds on this with TCL’s WHVA 2.0 Ultra Panel, enhanced dimming, Audio by Bang & Olufsen, and a Virtually ZeroBorder design. The flagship X11L TV (75–98 inches) features the highest zone density, up to 10,000-nit peak brightness, and TCL’s most advanced halo control system.

Competitive positioning and industry implications

TCL enters this launch with approximately 31 per cent global Mini LED TV market share, ranking No. 1 globally according to OMDIA 2025, alongside the world’s largest ultra-large panel manufacturing footprint.

SQD-Mini LED TV is therefore not just a product but a capability demonstration, one that, at launch, only TCL’s manufacturing ecosystem can produce at scale.

Whether SQD-Mini LED follows the same trajectory as Mini LED, moving from early introduction to industry-wide standard—will depend on production economics, supplier adoption, and consumer validation over the coming years. However, the structural conditions that enabled TCL’s earlier success in shaping the Mini LED category appear firmly in place once again.

A new crude oil pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz and which the UAE began building last year is now 50 per cent complete, the CEO of ADNOC, Sultan Al Jaber, said on Wednesday.

Iran has largely kept the waterway critical for global oil and gas supplies shut to all ships apart from its own since the US-Israeli strikes in February, sending energy prices and inflation surging, fanning fears of an economic downturn.

The Abu Dhabi Media Office publicly revealed the project’s existence for the first time last week, saying the UAE will accelerate construction of a new ​oil pipeline to double its export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed ADNOC to fast-track the West-East Pipeline project during an executive committee meeting, the media office said.

“Today, it’s already almost 50 per cent complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027,” Al Jaber said during a live-streamed Atlantic Council event.

“Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few choke points. That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz,” Al Jaber said.

The existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, can carry up to 1.8 million barrels per day and has proved crucial as ​the UAE seeks to maximise exports from the Gulf of Oman coast, just outside the strait.

Al Jaber said some of ADNOC’s facilities had been directly targeted and some infrastructure directly hit and the assessment of damage was ongoing. It will take in some cases weeks and in others months to return to full operational capacity, he said.

AI is reshaping hiring and job roles at India’s booming offshore centres, with companies placing less emphasis on coding and more on domain and product skills, a senior Kimberly-Clark executive said.

The US-based consumer goods maker is increasingly seeking workers who can apply technology to business problems rather than write code, as automation tools begin to handle routine programming tasks, Deena Dayalan, the global head of digital operations and cloud transformation, told the Reuters summit in Bengaluru.

Coding alone will not be enough, Dayalan said, adding that employees now need domain expertise in areas such as supply chains or retail alongside basic AI literacy.

Read more-AI’s role in GCC recruitment: What hiring experts want you to understand

“Most of the coding jobs are given to third-party (providers). We need product engineers who can work with them and try to apply technology to get a better solution,” said Dayalan, who is also Kimberly-Clark’s India site leader.

The shift comes as global capability centres (GCCs) in India move up the value chain from back-office support to engineering, data and product roles, creating demand for more specialised talent even as some entry-level positions face pressure.

Dayalan said companies are focusing on hiring experienced workers, typically with more than four years’ experience, while entry-level roles could shrink as AI tools automate basic tasks.

At the same time, firms are retraining existing employees, with Kimberly-Clark rolling out company-wide AI training initiatives to build skills across its workforce.

The changes are also altering hiring patterns, with firms prioritising “must-have” skills and learning capacity over rigid job descriptions, he said.

India produces about 1.5 million engineering graduates each year, but Dayalan said closer industry collaboration with universities will be key to ensure graduates are equipped with both domain and technical skills for emerging roles.

“Little bit of domain knowledge is a must. Raw engineer is not going to help, especially for GCCs,” he said.

RemotePass, the UAE-founded global employment and payroll platform, has raised $17.4m in Series B funding as it looks to scale internationally and deepen its fintech and AI capabilities.

The Dubai-based company enables businesses to hire, pay and manage workers across more than 150 countries without needing to establish legal entities in each market. Its platform combines employer-of-record services, contractor management, payroll infrastructure and embedded fintech products into a single system.

The funding round was led by EBRD Venture Capital, the dedicated venture arm of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with participation from 500 Global and existing investors including Oraseya Capital, 212 VC, Access Bridge Ventures and Khwarizmi Ventures.

The deal comes as global venture capital markets remain cautious, particularly around growth-stage technology firms. However, RemotePass said it reached profitability in early 2025 before deciding to raise additional capital to fund expansion.

“This round is about acceleration,” Kamal Reggad, CEO and co-founder of RemotePass, told Gulf Business.

“Building a globally competitive platform from the region, in a market that incumbents underestimated, is something we are incredibly proud of.”

Betting on the convergence of payroll and fintech

Reggad said the company sees a major opportunity emerging around the convergence of workforce infrastructure and financial services as businesses increasingly manage distributed international teams.

“Payroll is really the front door,” he said. “Behind that sits cross-border payments, multi-currency accounts, worker financial products, and financial services for distributed teams. This is the larger opportunity.”

Founded in 2021, RemotePass has now scaled to support more than 35,000 workers globally and has processed over $800m in cross-border payroll payments.

The company has positioned itself as one of the few global employment platforms with deep operational expertise across the Middle East and North Africa, providing Arabic and English support while navigating labour laws and payment infrastructure across regional markets where many international competitors have limited reach.

Its clients include regional technology firms such as Careem and Tabby, alongside international groups including Logitech, Tata Group and inDrive.

A major focus for the company is expanding its fintech offering aimed at workers operating across emerging markets.

For employees and contractors dealing with volatile currencies and delayed cross-border payments, RemotePass provides access to USD accounts, global debit cards and premium health insurance products.

AI expansion and global growth plans

The company is also increasing investment in AI infrastructure across its operations.

“We’re building an AI-native company,” Reggad told Gulf Business.

“By that, I don’t mean simply adding an AI feature to a SaaS product. I mean rebuilding operations, compliance, and customer experience around AI agents to help both our team and our users become more productive.”

RemotePass said it has already rolled out AI agents across onboarding, compliance and customer support workflows.

In late 2025, the company also launched SpendCards, integrating corporate expense management directly into the same platform businesses use for payroll and contractor payments.

The investment is also being viewed as another positive signal for the UAE and wider GCC startup ecosystem as regional technology companies continue attracting international institutional capital.

Speaking on the investment, Amine Chabane, principal at EBRD Venture Capital, said RemotePass had demonstrated unusually disciplined growth compared with others in the category.

“RemotePass is uniquely integrating global payroll and financial products into a single AI-enabled experience,” Chabane said.

“It lowers friction for employers operating across emerging markets while creating real economic opportunity for tens of thousands of workers.”

He added: “The business has reached meaningful scale on a fraction of the capital others in the category have raised — a signal of how disciplined Kamal and his team have been with execution.”

Meanwhile, Amjad Ahmad, managing partner at 500 Global, said RemotePass had built structural advantages through its regional depth, fintech capabilities and early AI investments.

“The emerging market depth, embedded fintech layer, and early AI investment create structural advantages that are hard to replicate,” Ahmad said.

RemotePass said the new funding will support expansion across Europe and the US, alongside deeper compliance capabilities and continued investment in AI-powered automation and financial products.