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Officials at the meeting.

UAE, New Zealand discuss moves to enhance trade ties

ABU DHABI, September 28, 2016

The UAE and New Zealand have discussed moves to enhance cooperation and economic relations between the two countries, especially across vital sectors and areas like renewable energy, agriculture, food and innovation.

Engineer Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, recently held a meeting with Todd McClay, New Zealand’s Trade Minister. McClay was accompanied by a special trade delegation from New Zealand.

The meeting was held at the Ministry of Economy’s headquarters in Dubai. Also present during the meeting were senior UAE officials that included Engineer Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Shehhi, Undersecretary for Economic Affairs; Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Under-Secretary for Foreign Trade and Industry; Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs; Sultan Ahmed Darwish, director of trade negotiations and WTO; and Tariq Al Suwaidi, government communication director for the Ministry of Economy.

The meeting focused on reinforcing cooperative ties between the two countries in the field of renewable energy, which complements an agreement signed between the UAE and New Zealand in 2014, which covers the deployment of renewable energy solutions in various regions of the world. It lauded the role played by Masdar as a crucial factor to its success.

The officials also discussed moves on how to strengthen cooperation in the trade sector and to increase non-oil trade rates between the two countries, which stood at $715 million in 2015. The two countries also talked about effective means on urging institutions and investors from both the UAE and New Zealand to take advantage of the available investment opportunities in various fields—throwing key focus on agriculture, food industries, innovation, knowledge economy and civil aviation.

The participants also discussed the current status of the Free Trade Agreement between the GCC and New Zealand.

Al Mansouri emphasised the UAE’s keenness towards strengthening and developing bilateral relations with New Zealand, especially in economic and trade segments that contribute to the promotion of development and upgrading frameworks of cooperation in various fields such as technology, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and tourism.

Al Mansouri threw the spotlight on the unique investment environment of the UAE and welcomed the entry of New Zealand’s investments across various sectors, urging New Zealand’s business community to take advantage of investment opportunities in the UAE and the attractive incentives that come with it.

He also encouraged New Zealand to participate in the coming Expo 2020 exhibition, which the UAE will be hosting in Dubai.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Minister of Trade praised the development of the bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed confidence in furthering cooperation and exploration of new areas and opportunities to promote the two countries' relations.  - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: UAE | New Zealand | Trade | renewable |

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