United Arab Emirates:

Dr. Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, affirmed that the UAE has placed foreign trade at the centre of its economic agenda, recognising its pivotal role in driving industrial output, enhancing the global competitiveness of its products and services, as well as catalysing innovation.

He said, “As a direct result of this conviction, and guided by our leadership’s forward-thinking vision and commitment to global collaboration, our non-oil foreign trade continues to set new milestones.”

Dr. Al Zeyoudi noted that the value of the UAE’s non-oil trade has remained on a robust growth trajectory, reaching an all-time high of Dhs1.395 trillion in the first half of 2024 – the sixth consecutive half-year period of foreign trade growth.

This new milestone marks an 11.2 percent increase in foreign trade compared to H1 in 2023, and underscores the success of the UAE’s economic diversification strategies, he said, adding that this is best embodied by the increase of the UAE’s non-oil exports, which grew 25 percent compared to H1 2023 to reach Dhs256.4 billion.

Dr. Al Zeyoudi emphasised that key sectors, including gold, silver, jewellery, oils, perfumes, aluminium, copper wires, and iron products, have led this impressive surge in non-oil exports, demonstrating the country’s enhanced global competitiveness. “Our re-export operations also increased, highlighting our status as a global trade hub and reflecting international confidence in the UAE as a reliable trade partner and facilitator.”

“Moreover, our performance defies the global trend of slowing trade growth, which averaged just 1.5 percent in the first half of this year. This achievement shows the UAE economy’s resilience, which is the result of our steadfast commitment to building strong, productive public-private partnerships as well as fostering collaborative growth with emerging global economies,” he added.

Importantly, it’s clear that our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) programme is playing a central role in achieving these record results, Dr. Al Zeyoudi stated. He stressed that bilateral trade with CEPA partners India and Türkiye grew 15 and 9.8 percent respectively, and, together, now account for 11.7 percent of the UAE’s total foreign trade.

“As we continue to expand and finalise more CEPA deals, we anticipate further growth, steering us toward our ambitious target of Dhs4 trillion in non-oil foreign trade by 2031.” he further said.

“As we look to the future, we will ensure that the UAE continues to leverage the power of trade to drive sustainable, long-term economic growth and prosperity for our nation,” Dr. Al Zeyoudi concluded.

WAM