UAE economy has grown 24-fold in 53 years
There are 24 CEPAs with the UAE which have been signed and six of them are in force, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade said.
They are meant to abolish or substantially cut import and export customs duty and tariffs to facilitate trade between the two countries.
Speaking on the opening day of the first edition of Abu Dhabi Business Week, Al Zeyoudi said that CEPAs have brought the country’s non-oil trade to a new height.
"Taxation is at the heart of the UAE’s 2031 agenda. Our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements promise Dh4 trillion in non-oil foreign trade in seven years and a Dh800 billion growth in exports.
So far we have reached multi-level free trade agreements with 24 countries worldwide and 6 of them are in place (including two important partners India and Turkey). These treaties open up better market access for nearly one-quarter of the planet’s population. The results speak for themselves. Non-oil trade was the highest ever at Dh1.39 trillion in the first half, a growth of 11.2 percent on year," Minister said in the keynote speech.
‘Emirati economy has grown 24x in the last 53 years, GDP, FDI and non-oil foreign trade surpass world averages,’ he added.
"Amid the economic turbulence, the UAE is a growth hub. This is no accident", he added, and it is mainly thanks to natural resources that the fortunes are being invested for the future growth of social, industrial and educational systems.
"The three foundations of UAE’s growth plan are today trade, technology and targeted investments. And the collaboration with countries, research and business sits at the heart of them all".
Nine-month non-oil exports are higher than last year, the minister said.
‘Our non-oil exports increased by 25 per cent to Dh 265 billion. End of September numbers are still way higher than last year. This all against the backdrop of slowing global trade which was at 1.5 per cent average during the same time period... UAE is also building the future of its economy by bringing cutting-edge technology in every field – AI, machine learning, blockchain, robotics and IoT faster," he said.
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