Ministry of Economy follows up results of UAE-UK Joint Economic Committee meeting
Posted on: November 15th, 2009
Industry: Government
Country: United Arab Emirates
His Excellency Engineer Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy said the Ministry has adopted a focused programme of action to follow up on the results of the previous UAE- UK Joint Economic Committee Meeting and to ensure that the implementation of the agreed decisions is running smoothly.
Mr Al Mansouri said that both countries should benefit from the successful results of the committee meeting. “The implementation programme will help to enhance the economic ties between our countries. We will be directly communicating with the British officials in the coming three months by arranging video conferences. The first one will be in January 2010 to discuss the progress and updates of implementation of the projects and activities that were agreed by both parties at meeting,” he added.
Mr Al Mansouri said the Ministry is keen to involve local departments in the programme and that there will be common meetings with the concerned parties to explore the opportunities of participating in the Ministry’s program.
His Excellency Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shihhi, Director General at the Ministry of Economy said: “The implementation program will include various economic sectors with a focus on increasing investments through our Investment Department at the Ministry which will coordinate with the concerned parties in the UAE and the British Embassy to specify the areas. We will form a team to coordinate with the UK in the domain of financial services, especially Islamic services, and another team will coordinate the fields of research and development and renewable energy”.
Al Shhihi said that the program will also focus on the small and medium businesses and industries, with a special UAE team to work with the UK on the possibilities of manufacturing British products in the UAE.
On increasing bilateral trade in goods and services from the current level of AED45.7 billion (£7.5 billion) to AED73 billion (£12 billion) by 2015, Al Shihhi said: “We will tackle the imbalance in bilateral trade by focusing listing services and commodities trades in the evaluation process. Specialists at the Ministry will prepare a report on the services and commodities trade with the UK to have clear indications about the volume of trade exchange,” he added.
Al Shihhi said: “We are contacting all concerned parties in the UAE to prepare a comprehensive study on the obstacles affecting trade exchange between the UAE and UK, to issue appropriate suggestions and recommendations to achieve better balanced trade.”
Al Shihhi emphasized the important role of the private sector in supporting the work of the UAE-UK Joint Economic committee, through roundtables between UAE and UK entrepreneurs, where they can present their recommendations about enhancing economic ties to the Ministers of both countries to take action and translate it into tangible facts.
Building on the recommendations of the sector-focused round-table discussions, where the UAE and UK agreed to organise jointly a business forum bringing together UAE and UK private sectors to build new business partnerships in the UAE in the first half of 2010, the Ministry of Economy will coordinate with the British side to exchange thoughts on the appropriate methodology to organize it.
Regarding the possibility of establishing a UAE-UK Federal Business Council that builds on the excellent work of the British business groups in the UAE, the Ministry will coordinate with the concerned parties to discuss it and inform the UK about the UAE’s recommendations.
Abdullah Salem al-Turafi, CEO of Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority, said the Authority has built a strategic relationship with various bodies in the stock exchange market in the United Kingdom, and this relation will support the implementation programme that will contribute to developing the relations to highest levels.
Al Turaifi said the Authority is keen to build a mutual relationship with London Financial Market. “The Authority will coordinate with the UK Financial Services Authority to exchange experiences and information on all aspects of services related to financial markets and the stock exchange in the UK.”.
H.E Salah Salem Ben Omeir Al Shamsi, President of the Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the next stage requires huge combined efforts between the UAE and UK businesses. He assured that the Federation will put all its experiences and efforts to support the follow-up program of the Ministry of Economy, to ensure smooth implementation of the agreed topics of the joint committee meeting.
He added: “We are keen to explore strategic opportunities at various business sectors in the UK by arranging visits of businessmen from both countries to study these opportunities on ground. We will accelerate this process in the near future by increasing the level of coordination with the concerned parties in the UK”.
For further information, please contact:
Nedal Al Asaad / Nizar Aridi
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller
Tel: (+971 4) 334 4550; Fax: (+971 4) 334 4556
E-mail: n.alasaad@asdaa.com, n.aridi@asdaa.com
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