DUBAI: Trade between Spain and the United Arab Emirates has grown by 73 percent over the past five years and relations between the two countries are “magnificent,” Spain’s secretary of state for trade, Jaime Garcia-Legaz, said.
At a business forum entitled “Spain, a strong partner,” held on Sunday in Dubai, Garcia-Legaz emphasized the “very good (trade) numbers” between the two nations.
Spain exports some 1.5 billion euros (about $1.56 billion) in products to the UAE each year.
Meanwhile, the vice president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, Jose Vicente Gonzalez, said that trade will not stop increasing, adding that “between 2010 and 2014, bilateral trade grew by more than 73 percent.”
Gonzalez also participated on Sunday in the event at Dubai’s Trade and Industry Chamber organized by the Economic and Trade Office at the Spanish Embassy in the UAE along with the Spanish Business Council.
Garcia-Legaz told EFE that 200 Spanish companies are doing business in the Emirates, adding that the UAE is a big investor in Spain.
He also held meetings with officials in the Emirates’ economy and foreign ministries and took advantage of the situation to inform the UAE authorities of the desire of King Felipe VI to make a state visit to the Middle Eastern nation in 2016.
