Economic Committee between UAE and Italy emphasizes development of economic relations

Participating in the meetings are officials from ministries of Economy, Foreign Trade, Foreign Affairs, Health, Works, Water, Higher Education, Scientific Research and Education from both countries. Representatives of economic local departments as well as federal and local governmental officials from investment, customs, oil, transport, communications, aviation, tourism sectors will take part of this meeting. Delegates from the UAE's Private Sector are also attending

HE Mohammed Al Shihhi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy said: "We welcome you in the UAE to hold the 3rd economic meeting between our two countries, hope you enjoy your stay here. Our meeting today reflects our common interest in building mutual relations that are in line with the UAE and Italy's people".

"Given that, the UAE and Italy are interested in exploring good cooperation opportunities. Despite that the two countries are bonded by an economic, industrial and financial cooperation agreement signed in 1984 which constitutes a good background to develop our bilateral relations, we certainly have more potential and aspirations to take our economic relations into another level and strive to overcome obstacles and open new horizons of cooperation, by capitalizing on the total renaissance witnessed by the UAE and Italy, their distinguished growth and their huge investment potential," he said.

"We believe that bilateral economic relations are taking a big part of our Ministry's activities, our government and private sector in the UAE. This interest generated a big improvement in the economic relations, where the non oil trade exchange increased by 28% within the last five years, reaching $4.914bn, which makes Italy one of the biggest trade partners of the UAE," he added.

He pointed that the UAE has become an important center for the Italian trade activities where 100, Trade agencies are 403 and Italian trademarks exchanged in the UAE are about 2255. He said that these figures are a simple reflection of big steps that our bilateral relations have taken, these ties that are an excellent example of constructive relations between any two countries.

Al Shihhi added: "The UAE's economy witnesses a strong performance and high evolution in all socio economic fields which reflects our government's directives in diversifying our National economic interests. In 2007, the UAE has achieved a real growth which reached 5.2 per cent with a GDP of $199bn, constituted mainly by non oil activities, contrary to what it's publicized. Our interest in improving our overall relations with Italy is unlimited and we hope that these ties will grow deeper and prosper".

"We are optimistic about our relations given the strong opportunities in investment that we have and the rich areas of cooperation that are in place. We were keen to have in this meeting, officials from ministries of Economy, Foreign Trade, Foreign Affairs, Health, Works, Water, Higher Education, Scientific Research and Education. We also have Representatives of economic local departments as well as federal and local governmental officials from investment, customs, oil, transport, communications, aviation, tourism sectors and the private sector. We hope today to overcome obstacles and difficulties as we look forward to enhance our relations with Italy," he concluded.

The main UAE commodities exported to Italy include metals, textile, food stuff, jewels, precious metals and leather products. On the other hand, The UAE imports machinery, chemical products, transportation equipment, precious metals, shoes and rubber products.