Lord Mayor visits Gulf to reassure Arab investors

The Lord Mayor of London will visit three Gulf states this week to try to persuade wealthy Arab investors not to withdraw their cash from London in the event of an attack on Iraq by American and British forces.

Since the 11 September terrorist attacks, Arab investors have reportedly withdrawn hundreds of millions of pounds from America, Britain and continental Europe because of fears that their bank accounts would be frozen.

Gavyn Arthur, who is visiting the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, will try to impress on his hosts that Britain does not regard Arab businessmen with the same suspicion that some Americans do.

"US authorities have gone on fishing trips against Arab funds, often even getting people's names wrong. That has done great damage to confidence. I want to tell them that we are wilier than that and are not in the business of confiscating innocent people's money," Mr Arthur said.

The Lord Mayor, who visited the Middle East last month as well, denied that fear was growing in the City that a war on Iraq would make it difficult for Arab companies and individuals to operate in London.

"I don't think perceptions have changed much since last month. People in the Middle East are realists," he said.

The Lord Mayor will take with him a delegation of business people on his 11-day trip.