ABU DHABI: The volume of non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia touched about US$1.6 billion during the first 9 months of 2016, compared to about $2.5 billion during the whole of 2015, according to a report released by the UAE Ministry of Economy, on reviewing the trade policies with Russia. The report also shed light on the main developments in Russia’s economic sectors during the past years. It presented Russia’s achievements in main economic growth indicators and the developmental steps that it took to enhance its investment environment and develop trade ties with other countries, as well as the trade relations between the UAE and Russia. Hind Al Youha, Head of Foreign Trade Policies at the Ministry of Economy, said that the ministry is improving its knowledge of public and private sectors, and economic and trade policies, in many countries around the world. It also briefs interested authorities in the UAE about the economic developments in partner countries, through periodic reports about the trade policies of different countries, she added.
The report also highlighted the efforts of the UAE and Russia to develop their economic ties, and stressed that the UAE’s main exports to Russia include optical guidance ships, fire-fighting ships, sweeping ships, ornaments, precious metals and tea, while its imports from Russia includes diamonds, raw gold and wheat. It added that the growth of real GDP in Russia slowed since 2014, while the reduction rate reached -3.7 percent in 2015, due to the plunge in the oil prices and the western economic sanctions that led to a fall in capital, which decreased the value of the Russian currency and increased the inflation.
The report said that Russia is moving towards achieving stability, with an expected growth in GDP of 1.8 percent in 2016 and 0.8 percent in 2017, according to the IMF. The Russian government is currently implementing economic reform programmes to promote competitiveness in the goods and service markets, as well as in customs development, intellectual property, transportation and communication and technologies, to increase investment attractiveness and overcome growth obstacles due to slow structural economic reforms. According to the report, the contribution of the service sector, which was 62 percent in 2015, makes up a large proportion of the total GDP. And as a part of Russia’s commitment to joining the World Trade Organisation, it removed restrictions on the foreign capital in telecommunications by 49 percent.
