DUBAI: The ministerial meeting of the committee was chaired by HE Eng. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, and by HE Luis De Guindos Jurado, Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain.
Also present were Ministry officials HE Eng. Mohamed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, Undersecretary for Economic Affairs; HE Humaid Bin Butti Al Muhairi, Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Affairs; HE Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Trade; and HE Youssef Issa Al Rifai, Assistant Undersecretary for Support Services, along with HE Mohamad Sharaf, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Economic and Trade Affairs, and representatives of several related government entities such as the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Customs Authority.
The Spanish delegation included HE Marisa Poncela, Secretary of State for Trade; HE Antonio Alvarez, Spanish Ambassador to the UAE; and several other diplomatic personal and senior officials from the Spanish Government.
The two ministers discussed the most important economic and development issues in their respective countries. They also reviewed the latest developments and trends in international economics and exchanged views on the many challenges and changes facing the global economy as well as the cooperative approaches to confronting them.
The group emphasised that the economic relations between their countries have been continuously growing. They expressed their commitment to working together to consolidate these relations on an ongoing basis and to explore development opportunities in various sectors. They noted the vital role played by the Joint Economic Committee in raising their existing cooperation to higher levels in accordance with well-planned frameworks and mechanisms and a clear agenda that meets the aspirations of the two countries.
The Committee focused on enhancing trade in goods and services; encouraging mutual investments; establishing joint ventures that serve the interests of both sides; deepening cooperation in innovation, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurship, scientific research and development; and participating in investments and business activities related to the hosting of Expo Dubai 2020. It also sought to build effective and mutually beneficial partnerships between the business sectors of the two countries.
“We are proud to count Spain among one of our closest political and economic allies. Our non-oil bilateral foreign trade has flourished in recent years, growing by an impressive 26.3 per cent from USD 1.9 billion in 2011 to USD 2.4 billion in 2016. Spain’s direct investments to the UAE continue to grow, with 45 commercial companies, 112 commercial agencies and 2,456 trademarks from Spain registered locally as of 2015. There is still huge room for growth, and given the ongoing major shifts in the global economy, we would mutually benefit from exploring new avenues of cooperation especially in areas prioritised by our respective national development agendas. Since its first session in Madrid in 2010, the UAE-Spain Joint Economic Committee has played a pivotal role in bridging our commercial and economic gaps. For the fourth round of meetings we will assess the progress of the joint actions we agreed on during the last session in Granada and explore prime investment and partnership opportunities in sectors of common interest moving forward,” said Al Mansoori.
