The European Union is one of the major trading blocs for the UAE, last year the trading in goods was around a 15 billion euro and that puts us in the top three of the trading blocs with the country, said Andrea Matteo Fontana, EU ambassador to the UAE.

As international trading and business begins to resume after the initial COVID-19 outbreak, Andrea Matteo Fontana spoke to Euronews about the importance of the business and trading relations between the UAE and the EU, and the effect this will have on the UAE’s future economic growth.

He said, “The relationship is good, it has potential and it is strategic. Our interests here are to work with the UAE on several strands. For us, investment is important and we have a lot of European investors here, but it’s also about how to look at the future and how we can exchange knowledge and experience with the country. I’m thinking about economic diversification which I think this is a very important issue for the UAE who wants to diversify from an economy which was based on oil and wants to change.”

As well as helping the UAE move forward and build towards the future following the hit from the global pandemic through trading and business relations, Andrea Matteo Fontana’s role will see him support the UAE with Expo 2020, which is now set to take place in October 2021.

Commenting on the event that will boost the UAE economy exponentially he said: “I will be the Commissioner General for the EU during Expo 2020 and the importance of it, I think, is changing. I believe that it is difficult to predict what is going to happen until next year, but I believe that Expo 2020 will be one of the first global events. After the pandemic has finished or has decreased substantially, thanks to all the efforts that we’re investing in the vaccine and so on, it will be a one of the first events where we can exchange experiences and learn from each other. And for that, I think the motto is still very appropriate - connecting minds and creating the future. We’re going to look at how together we can create a future that is more sustainable, where there is more solidarity, where there is more exchange.”

Seven years after the European Union delegation opened in the UAE, the EU is looking to strengthen its cooperation with the UAE now more than ever. Commenting on the priorities of his role this year, Andrea Matteo Fontana said: “This is going to be a very difficult year for business and we as international organizations, as governments, have to try and promote the best possible conditions for business to restart. And for this, from a European point of view, we will prioritise trade supplies and standards so the rules of the game allow us to go back to a system where we can trade with each other, and make business with each other, so that the economy can thrive again.”

The UAE Ministry of Economy has recently took part in a video conference organised by the delegation of the European Union to the UAE, with the participation of Trade Counsellors from European Union, EU, Member States represented in the country.

During the virtual session, Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Under-Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, affirmed the country’s keenness to intensify cooperation with the EU in jointly addressing the economic challenges brought about by the spread of COVID-19.

“At the root of all this tragedy, of COVID-19, is the ‘shared responsibility’ of the international community and the leveraging of extensive dialogue between the public and private sectors as an opportunity to ensure complementarities and synergies,” he said.

The UAE currently ranks 22nd globally as the most important trading partner of EU countries and ranks 2nd in the Arab world. In terms of non-oil trade, the UAE is the number one partner of the EU in the Gulf region, he noted.

The UAE also ranks 15th globally as the most important recipient market of exports from the EU, accounting for 1.4 per cent of the total exports of EU countries to the world in 2019. In the Arab world, it ranks the 1st, holding more than 19.2 per cent of the EU’s exports to Arab countries.

During 2019, 40 per cent of the total exports of the EU to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries went to the UAE.

With regard to food commodities and manufactures, the EU countries are the most important source for the UAE, constituting more than 15 per cent of UAE’s total imports from these commodities from the world.

Also, more than 43 per cent of UAE’s imports of medical supplies related to COVID- 19 come from EU countries.

Agencies