United Kingdom business ventures enjoy one of the most accommodating, liberalized economies in all of Europe. This is attributed, in thanks, to several decades of government efforts to reduce public ownership and contain the growth of social welfare programs. The UK is an important trade and financial center, one of the world’s leaders for both inward and outward foreign direct investment. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account (by far) for the largest proportion of GDP, while industry continues to decline in importance. Key industries with sustained relative strength include aerospace, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and an intensive, highly mechanized agricultural sector that produces roughly 60% of the nation’s food needs with only 2% of the labor force.