UAE, US Discuss Stronger Economic Cooperation

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, and U.S Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, have discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the economic and trade fields between the two countries.

This came during a meeting held in Washington during the official visit of Al Mansouri to take part in The SelectUSA Investment Summit held from 20th to 22nd June, 2018.

The meeting was attended by Yousef Mana'a Saeed Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the United States, US, Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, Abdullah Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, EGA, and Saud Al Nowais, Commercial Attache for the UAE to the US.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the current level of economic and trade relations and the areas of their development during the next phase in light of the promising investment opportunities offered in the two markets as well as ways of benefiting from the cooperation and partnership agreements signed in a number of vital sectors.

They also discussed the recent procedures adopted by the US on imports of iron and aluminium, as the UAE is one of the most important exporters of aluminium to the US.

Al Mansouri emphasised the strong bilateral relations between the UAE and the US, especially on the economic and trade levels as the UAE is one of the most important markets for US exports in the region.

"Given the figures of trade exchange between the two countries, we find that they doubled during the last decade after non-oil foreign trade amounted to about $24 billion in 2017, including $4 billion UAE exports," he said.

He also noted the geographical scope of the UAE's trade exchanges with all the US States, especially Washington, California, Texas, Florida and New York.

Al Mansour added that the joint economic relations are based on a mutually beneficial model as the foreign trade between the two countries supports more than 119,000 jobs in the US, while the Emirati investments in the US contribute to the provision of local jobs and liquidity for the capital markets to enhance the possibilities of innovation and progress in a number of sectors.

The minister also indicated that the UAE's direct investments in the US market reached about $27.5 billion, representing about 12,800 jobs in the US, while the total value of UAE investments in the US is about $100 billion.

Ross stressed the importance of bilateral relations between the two countries and their keenness on enhancing frameworks of the existing partnership in the best interests of the two countries.

He emphasised that the UAE is an important trade and investment partner for the US.

He also pointed out the importance of periodic meetings between the two sides to continuously review the most important trade and investment opportunities as well as discuss various challenges to find the most appropriate solutions to overcome them.