Latest news with #TimReid
Morocco World
16-05-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
UK Seeks to Boost Cooperation with World-Cup Co-Host Morocco to Unlock Business Opportunities
Rabat – Morocco's 2030 World Cup co-hosting rights are contributing to the country's position as a leader at many levels, including business and trade. The UK announced this week its interest in unlocking business opportunities through boosting ties and cooperation with Morocco, which was confirmed as a co-host of the 2030 World Cup along with Spain and Portugal. Earlier this week, UK Minister of State for Investment Baroness Gustafsson answered an MP's question on the country's steps to strengthen trade ties with Morocco, stressing that the Department for Business and Trade is 'committed to helping UK businesses export to Morocco.' This effort comes in line with the UK-Morocco Association Agreement the two countries signed in 2019 post-Brexit. 'Bilateral trade was worth £4.2 billion in 2024, up £0.6 billion in current prices from 2023,' the minister stated, stressing the importance of Morocco as a co-host of the World Cup. 'An example of the opportunities for further UK-Morocco business partnerships comes with Morocco co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup, where opportunities are emerging for British businesses,' she concluded. In a recent interview with Morocco World News (MWN), Chief Executive Officer of UK Export Finance (UKEF) Tim Reid expressed his country's determination to seize the World Cup opportunity and the projects it brings to the country. 'In Morocco, we are focusing on World Cup-related projects as we are keen to be part of this exciting adventure,' he noted, outlining the agency's £5 billion commitment to Moroccan projects, positioning the kingdom as a strategic launching point for British commercial interests throughout Africa. He stressed how UKEF is determined to contribute to Morocco's projects, whether infrastructure or energy plans. 'Whether you are a government official considering a new infrastructure project or a private company with ambition in energy efficiency, we can help. In return, we ask for a commitment to sourcing at least 20% of the contract value from the UK,' Reid told MWN. In October 2024, a UK delegation visited Morocco to explore the country's World Cup preparatory campaign as well as to discuss ways to boost ties with the North African country at all levels. The delegation included 12 British companies, interested in Morocco's projects related to the global tournament. Tags: UK and Moroccoworld cup 2030
Top Gear
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Sunderland's gigafactory has been given a £1 billion boost
Business The funding will support 1,000 jobs, building batteries for 100,000 EVs a year Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Off the back of a reduced tariff negotiation with the US comes more good news for the UK car industry. This time, in the form of cash money investment – to the tune of £1 billion – into AESC's Sunderland-based gigafactory. The electrifying move is set to support a 1,000-strong workforce manufacturing batteries to go into up to 100,000 electric cars annually, and erm, actually get the thing (pictured) under final construction. Advertisement - Page continues below The gigafactory is expected to be operational later this year and will have a capacity of 12 gigawatt-hours (GWh). That whopping finance pot is a cumulative value from banks including Standard Chartered, HSBC and SMBC, plus more equity directly from Japanese battery manufacturer AESC. You might like Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'This investment follows hot on the heels of the landmark economic deal with the US which will save thousands of jobs in the industry. 'This investment in Sunderland will not only further innovation and accelerate our move to more sustainable transport, but it will also deliver much-needed high quality, well-paid jobs to the North East, putting more money in people's pockets.' Advertisement - Page continues below Tim Reid, boss of the UK's Export Finance (the country's export credit agency) added: "This hugely exciting project is a prime example of how export financing is a powerful tool for unlocking growth opportunities for British exporters and strengthening local economies. "We're proud to join forces with partners to back this pioneering gigafactory that will help cement the UK's prowess as an EV battery-making force for years to come." Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Morocco World
02-05-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
UKEF CEO Tim Reid: Morocco Serves as Strategic Gateway to African Markets
Doha – British export credit is making inroads across North Africa with an ambitious financing package, as Morocco accelerates preparations for major sporting events and a wider continental expansion. From transformative rail projects and airport upgrades to new sports infrastructure, renewable energy, and green hydrogen initiatives, the country's booming development pipeline is drawing heightened interest from global financiers. Tim Reid, Chief Executive Officer of UK Export Finance (UKEF), recently conducted an official visit to Morocco in April. During his trip, the second to the country, Reid met with government officials and private sector leaders, seeking to identify new avenues for collaboration and investment. Granting an exclusive interview to Morocco World News (MWN), Reid outlined the agency's £5 billion commitment to Moroccan projects, positioning the kingdom as a strategic launching point for British commercial interests throughout Africa. This substantial financial envelope was announced in late 2022. It provides support for both public and private sector initiatives across the country. 'Whether you are a government official considering a new infrastructure project or a private company with ambition in energy efficiency, we can help. In return we ask for a commitment to sourcing at least 20% of the contract value from the UK,' Reid stated. The British export credit agency has pinpointed World Cup-related developments as a key focus area. This interest aligns with Morocco's massive $23 billion investment program triggered by the upcoming global sporting events. 'Typically, the kind of things we help with concern infrastructure like rail and roads, or energy such as new renewable projects,' Reid conveyed. 'In Morocco, we are focusing on World Cup related projects as we are keen to be part of this exciting adventure,' he noted, referring to Morocco's preparations to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 FIFA World Cup. Continental ambitions accelerate through Moroccan partnership Reid remarked that UKEF views Morocco not only as an important market in itself but also as a strategic entry point to broader African opportunities. 'Morocco is important to us for its own potential but also a gateway to Africa. Many Moroccan companies and banks have presence across the African continent which will allow UKEF to support further opportunities in African countries,' he explained. The agency has established a robust presence across Africa with country heads based in six countries: Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and South Africa. With over 100 years of experience, it operates as the world's leading export credit agency. According to Reid, UKEF currently maintains a total exposure of £10 billion in Africa, providing approximately £1 billion annually to support various projects across the continent. François Pannetier, Regional Head for Africa, accompanied Reid during his Moroccan tour, indicating UKEF's serious commitment to expanding its African portfolio. The visit follows a prior stop in Egypt. 'Africa represents 1/3 of UKEF's global pipeline,' Reid disclosed, revealing the continent's strategic importance to British export finance operations. Reid acknowledged that while UKEF has not yet finalized any transactions with Moroccan companies, the agency remains engaged in 'productive discussions with Moroccan companies regarding a diverse range of sectors in the country and beyond, especially in West Africa.' Sustainable development at the center As part of his visit, Reid met with various stakeholders, including the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Benguerir, where discussions centered on energy and sustainability projects. He also held talks with Brahim Benmoussa, Secretary General of Morocco's Ministry of Investment, Convergence, and Evaluation of Public Policies, exploring collaborative opportunities both within Morocco and across Africa. UKEF's approach remains 'sector agnostic,' open to supporting projects in all sectors except fossil fuels, while maintaining flexibility regarding UK content requirements with the condition of utilizing the UK supply chain. The agency is particularly interested in sectors including renewable energy, water infrastructure, transportation, and digital transformation—areas that match Morocco's national development priorities. The growing economic relationship follows the UK-Morocco Association Agreement that came into force three years ago, which has helped boost bilateral trade to its highest level of £3.8 billion (approximately 46 billion MAD). Beyond the financial side, the Xlinks project represents another cornerstone of the Rabat-London partnership, aiming to deliver Moroccan solar and wind power to Britain through what would become the world's longest undersea cable. With a $29.9 billion total investment, it plans to establish 11.5 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in Morocco's Guelmim Oued Noun region, connected via a 4,000-kilometer undersea cable to southwest England. On the ground, UKEF operations in Morocco are coordinated by Country Head Meriem Bennani, who focuses on identifying viable opportunities and building relationships with key stakeholders. Reid stressed that potential partners don't need to present perfect proposals, just viable projects and a willingness to discuss how British suppliers could provide support. Read also: Morocco's Southern Provinces: 'A New Green Growth Corridor to the UK' Tags: Morocco UK relationsTim ReidUK Export Finance
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cockroaches and working in a closet: Inside Trump's return-to-office order
By Tim Reid, Ted Hesson, Sarah N. Lynch and Leah Douglas WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At NASA headquarters in Washington, just a mile from the U.S. Capitol, employees returned to an infestation of cockroaches and some are working in chairs with no desks, according to two people familiar with conditions there. In a private chat, staffers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services likened the hunt for desks in some regional offices to "The Hunger Games," the popular series of novels and films where young people must fight to the death in a government-sanctioned contest. And at an Internal Revenue Service office in Memphis, Tennessee, tax assessors sharing a training room are unable to discuss sensitive tax matters with clients over the phone out of fear of breaching privacy laws, according to one IRS manager who spoke to Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. federal government employees, many of whom have been working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, were ordered back to their offices full-time by President Donald Trump on January 20. But many have arrived at workplaces unprepared for their return, according to 10 federal workers who spoke to Reuters. The federal employees work inside eight different government agencies across the U.S. who have returned to their office buildings, sometimes after years of working remotely. All spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. Some critics of the move - including governance experts, federal union representatives and civil servants - have said the lack of preparation is no accident. They see it as a deliberate effort to make offices so unpleasant to work in that it will force more government employees to resign. Trump wants to slash and reshape the 2.3-million strong federal civilian workforce. Governance experts and labor unions say Trump's return to office order is also emblematic of a wider problem with the way in which the Republican president and his top adviser, tech billionaire Elon Musk, are approaching the government overhaul. "It's the move fast and break things approach, without really thinking through the implications of a range of different choices you are making," said Pam Herd, a professor of social policy at the University of Michigan. "So they tell everyone to return to work without considering the fact that they don't have the space to accommodate everyone." Trump and Musk have insisted their goal is to make the U.S. government bureaucracy less costly for taxpayers and more efficient, and to eliminate waste and fraud. A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management, the government's human resources department, said the goal of Trump's return-to-office order is for federal employees to work efficiently to best serve the American people. "We are prioritizing in-person work to strengthen collaboration, accountability, and service delivery across the federal workforce," an OPM spokesperson said. A White House official said in response to Reuters questions that facilities staff at the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, "work tirelessly to address reported issues to a satisfactory outcome." A spokesperson for Musk's Department of Government Efficiency did not respond to a request for comment. FIGHTS FOR DESKS, CHAIRS While most of the workers are returning to workplaces they left at the start of the 2020 pandemic, many others are teleworkers who had been working full-time from home or had a hybrid schedule that meant they worked only part of the time in an office. Federal employees described fights for desks and chairs, internet outages, a lack of parking spaces, with some sitting on floors and others told to use their personal smartphone hotspots to gain computer access to government data. Reuters also viewed three back-to-work memos sent to staff, informing some of them that they won't have a workspace or internet access when they return. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told staff this week it cannot guarantee desks or parking spots for the roughly 18,000 employees expected to report to offices on Monday. A manager at the IRS' Washington headquarters told colleagues on a conference call on Tuesday she was sitting on a floor with her computer on her lap because she didn't have a desk, according to an IRS manager who was on the call. An IRS human resources official in California was told to work in a supply closet, according to one person familiar with the arrangement. The IRS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "IT'S COMPLETE CHAOS" To date more than 100,000 workers have left the federal government after being fired or taking a buyout, according to Trump administration figures and a Reuters tally of those fired. More large-scale cuts are under way. Some labor unions say the chaotic execution of the return-to-work order is a deliberate ploy to force more federal workers to leave government by making workplaces stressful. "Bringing people back to work was nothing but a ploy to cause more confusion and get people to quit," said Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents 110,000 government workers. Musk and DOGE have a mandate to make the federal bureaucracy more efficient, but all the workers who spoke to Reuters said the return to office order is currently having the opposite effect. "It's complete chaos at NASA headquarters," said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, a union that represents 8,000 federal NASA workers. "If you don't have a desk or a computer you cannot do your job. People are much more unproductive." Biggs and a staff member at NASA headquarters said when employees returned to the building last month there were cockroaches on floors and bugs that came out of faucets. Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokesperson, said in the past 30 days about 1,000 people have been entering NASA headquarters each day. She said the building, built in 1992, was lightly used during hybrid work, but it has been maintained. She said the building's helpdesk had received only five requests regarding facilities issues since the full-scale return to work order. "Our team took immediate action to address those concerns, including talking to our regularly scheduled exterminator," Warner said. Biggs and another NASA staff member said the noise and crush inside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland has led some people to take meetings by phone inside their cars, using their personal hotspot to get internet access. Some NASA workers ordered back to Goddard live up to 50 miles away, and are so worried about the commute time and traffic they are turning up before dawn and sleeping in their vehicles before it's time to start work, Biggs and the staff member said. NASA spokesperson Warner said there have been no reports of people working from their vehicles. Regarding seating, she said, "we have more than enough space to accommodate our HQ workforce." The White House said shortly after Trump's January inauguration that only 6% of federal employees work in person, but government data shows that remote work is more limited. About 46% of federal workers, or 1.1 million people, were eligible for remote work, and about 228,000 of them had been fully remote, meaning working from home either all or part of the time, according to a report issued by the Office of Management and Budget in August. "EMPLOYEES HAVE ADEQUATE SPACE" Some government agencies downsized their office space to reduce costs after the COVID-19 pandemic work from home order, adding to the space crunch. Shortly before former Democratic President Joe Biden left office, the Office of Justice Programs in Washington, the Justice Department's largest grant-making division, moved from a building with eight floors and an entire parking garage in Chinatown to another building nearby with four floors and only one level of parking. The new facility has 157 parking spaces to accommodate 400 employees with parking passes, and a lack of workspaces, spurring some to arrive well before dawn. The return to office mandate is inducing anxiety and making it difficult for staff to focus on their jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Department of Justice spokesman said Trump and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, "expect federal workers paid for by hardworking taxpayers to show up in the office like millions of other Americans." Washington's Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, supports Trump's return-to-office order as a way to revitalize the city economy. She met with Trump in December after his election victory and believes a lack of federal workers in D.C. has been shrinking the city's tax revenue. But the pain of the return-to-office order is being felt among federal workers across the country. Immigration staff at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regional office in Chicago were temporarily forced to work on boxes in a storage room that served as a temporary office, one staffer said. "Employees whose salaries are paid for by American taxpayers should show up to work," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an email. "This isn't complicated and isn't controversial." A USCIS spokesperson said, "With more employees in the office, of course the offices are more crowded. This is normal. All employees have adequate space to work and serve the American people." That is not the experience of one employee at the Department of Agriculture's headquarters building in Washington. Staff are fighting for office space each day while facilities workers haul furniture around to create temporary workstations. Workers returned to bathrooms with no paper towels. "It's a zoo," the employee said. A USDA spokesperson said the agency has "sufficient space" for all workers, including those who used to work remotely.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. Social Security Administration to cut 7,000 workers
By Tim Reid WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government agency that provides benefits to tens of millions of older Americans plans to cut 7,000 workers, it announced on Friday, as part of the Trump administration's plan to slash the size of the federal workforce. The Social Security Administration (SSA), which sends checks to 73 million retired and disabled Americans each month, said in a statement it is going to reduce its workforce by more than 12 percent. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. "The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services," the SSA said. "Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees." The agency also said it will close down many of its regional offices, from 10 to 4. The agency is seen as a crucial provider of benefits to elderly Americans and their pensions, and one of few government departments traditionally seen as off limits for cuts by U.S. politicians. U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pledged when he campaigned for re-election to the White House that he would not touch Social Security when it came to his plans to cut government spending. The White House and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Friday two dozen senior staff members at SSA resigned from the agency, according to a memo written by Leland Dudek, the agency's acting commissioner, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. Dudek took over SSA after Michelle King, the previous acting commissioner, stepped down over her concerns about members of billionaire Elon Musk's DOGE getting access to SSA's computer systems, which contain the personal data of tens of millions of Americans. The Trump administration and DOGE have downsized more than 100,000 of the federal government's 2.3 million civilian workers through a combination of layoffs and buyouts. Trump and Musk say the government is bloated and wasteful.
