UAE seeks to ramp up trade ties with Germany

29/05/2016 05:30 AST

Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, has stressed the importance of boosting cooperation between the UAE and Germany in the aviation sector.

In a WAM statement on Saturday, Al Mansouri said that such cooperation would drive both countries’ commercial relations forward and provide greater access for new markets as both countries enjoy strategic locations. Trade between the UAE and Germany touched Dh57 billion in 2015.

Al Mansouri made his remarks during a meeting with Peter Ramzawr, a member of the German Parliament and President of the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on the sidelines of the Arab-German Business Forum held in Berlin.

Al Mansouri highlighted the importance of pushing the UAE-German cooperation forward to cement their economic ties as both sides have a number of sectors of mutual interest including start-ups and medium businesses.

He said that the UAE attaches utmost importance to entrepreneurs and is always keen to provide them with the appropriate investment environment, which is in line with the UAE’s vision to diversify sources of income and transform to a knowledge-based economy. Al Mansouri pointed out that the UAE seeks to boost cooperation with Germany in the industrial sector as well and benefit from Germany’s expertise as part of efforts to attract unique industrial investments that would contribute to the national economy.

He added that the Arab-German Business Forum has given a great opportunity to upgrade cooperation between Arab businesspeople and their German counterparts.

Calling on Germany to send more economic delegations to the UAE, Al Mansouri stressed the importance of participating in economic events organised by both sides in order to gain a clearer understanding of available investment opportunities and explore new avenues to enhance cooperation.

The forum witnessed impressive engagement from the UAE delegation during most of the panel sessions that ran for two days. A number of Emirati federal and local government bodies besides many businessmen reviewed available investment opportunities and incentives provided by the UAE and shared their investment experience.

Speaking on the occasion, Marwan Bin Jasem Al Sarkal, CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), said, “Shurooq’s participation in the forum comes in line with its efforts to expand economic cooperation with Germany and aims to give the German businessmen ideas about the most important investment sectors in Sharjah and its facilities to investors”.

During the two-day forum, Shurooq delivered a detailed presentation illustrating the most important investment opportunities available in Sharjah and how they positively affects tourism, environment, transportation and logistics services .

Al Sarkal said that Germany is an important economic partner for Sharjah as it plays a large role in developing our partnerships and investments with other European countries. Germany accounts for 13.5 per cent of Sharjah’s exports and re-export of non-oil products to Europe.

Dr Hamid Al Suwaidi, Deputy CEO of National Bank of Abu Dhabi in the Gulf and Africa region, said that the bank will play a pivotal role in supporting the UAE’s commercial and investment relations with other countries in the world. Our participation in the forum stresses our steadfast commitment to underpin the UAE’s economic strategies.

He pointed out that the forum represented a dynamic platform that brought together so many companies’ directors and businessmen to discuss all available investment opportunities.

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the Government authority on trade, enterprise and commodities in Dubai and home to over 12,000 of the world’s leading businesses, announced today its signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the German Arabian Business Cent

Gulfnews