UAE Ministry of Economy receives Japanese diplomatic and business delegates

Bilateral trade between the UAE and Japan reached Dhs69bn in the first half of 2007, with Japan importing more than 30% of its mineral fuels from the UAE during the same period. The group agreed that this productive relationship should be further expanded into growth areas such as ICT; they also exchanged views on the ICT-related policies of their respective countries and the important role of ICT technologies and services in societal development.

'IT services spending in the UAE rose 23 per cent to Dhs1.86bn in 2007 and is expected to grow by 15% this year; we thus welcome our Japanese partners' offer of further expanding this growth industry. Japanese ICT technologies will also perfectly complement federal efforts to enhance inter-agency communications and develop the country's ICT infrastructure to meet burgeoning consumer demand,' said H.E. Al Mansouri.

Both parties affirmed the UAE's status as Japan's primary trade partner in the Middle East and explored how cooperation could be further extended in the field of ICT and related services. The Japanese delegates discussed their country's leadership in traffic information; personal authentication; telepathology; and e-government technologies, and also offered their services in establishing efficient digital terrestrial broadcasting; mobile WiMAX; and advanced cellular phone systems.

Members of the Japanese group included Takayoshi Taniguchi, Senior Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications; Nobuhiro Takeuchi, Director-General, Telecommunications Department, Telecommunications Bureau; Masanori Kondo, Director, International Policy Coordination, International Affairs Department, Telecommunications Bureau; Chiaki Ito, Corporate Senior Executive Vice President, Fujitsu Ltd.; Masahiro Yoshikawa, General Manager, NEC Corp. Middle East and Africa; and Kazuhiro Nishihata, Managing Director, NTT Europe Ltd. The UAE group was headed by H.E. Eng. Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri and included, among others, H.E. Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Alshihhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy; H.E. Khalid Ghanim Al Ghaith, Assistant Under Secretary for Economic Affairs & International Cooperation; and H.E. Jamal Lutah, Assistant Under Secretary for Industry.

'Our productive relations with Japan reflect our broader commitment to actively interacting with the global business community. Our efforts were recently recognized when we were cited as the 30th top trading nation by the World Trade Organization on account of our impressive Dhs1 trillion share in global trade in 2007. We shall continue to engage in similar activities which both strengthen our economy and improve the lives of our people,' concluded H.E. Al Mansouri.