(WAM) Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, and Lord Stephen Green, UK Minister for Trade and Investment, will co-chair on Monday the second UAE-UK Joint Economic Committee (JEC) in Abu Dhabi. The first meeting was held in London on 19 October 2009. The Abu Dhabi event aims at further enhancing economic relations in areas of economy and trade and bringing businessmen in the two friendly countries more closer.
Al Mansouri said UAE-UK bonds maintain high standard of mutual respect and esteem building on their prominent economic standing among countries of the world.
The second meeting in Abu Dhabi, the minister said, will evaluate efforts made by the two sides following the first meeting in London in 2009 to deliver the agreed objectives on trade and investment as stated in the final joint statement.
Both sides reviewed current bilateral trade relations and committed to increasing total bilateral trade in goods and services from the current level of some ?7.5bn to a target of ?12bn by 2015. Particular emphasis would be placed on facilitating market access and on diversifying the range of good and services exchanged, not least through increasing the number of trade exhibitions, fairs and business fora in both countries and encouraging more engagement between small and medium enterprises.
Al Mansouri unveiled that the first UAE-UK Federal Business Council will be officially launched to help increase investment flows and lay down an institutional framework to support businessmen’s initiatives in a bid to advance joint strategic economic partnership.
Both sides, he added, expressed their full support to the efforts conducted by their business communities and professional organisations to strengthen and expand economic and trade cooperation.
Both sides agreed to consolidate existing achievements and to intensify bilateral investment through joint ventures, and greenfield operations and other forms of cooperation in the following sectors: financial services, including Islamic financing, energy, sustainable and renewable energy, information communication technology, knowledge economy, healthcare and life sciences, new and emerging technologies, including nanotechnology, tourism development and management of hotels, real estate, education and training.
Al Mansouri hoped works of the second meeting would deliver a qualitative leap in the domain of the distinguished relations through energising the economic and investment partnership in new sectors.
The UAE-UK bonds, he asserted, had seen remarkable progress and there is an urgency for setting up new mechanisms matching those paces.