New Zealand’s bilateral trade with the United Arab Emirates has seen a 29 percent increase over the past year, a top official from New Zealand said.
“The UAE is our largest trading partner in the Middle East and the 10th largest trading partner in the world, and it is our’ hub’ to do business with the wider region,” Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said during his official visit to the UAE in an exclusive interview with the New Zealand Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
The official reported that New Zealand’s trade with the UAE accounted for about 50% of its total trade with all the Arab Gulf countries.
Of the NZ$4.08 billion exchange for the year ended October 2019, the trade balance was NZ$3.1 billion ($1.99 billion) in favour of the UAE in imports to New Zealand and NZ$930 million ($597.54 million) in exports to the UAE, Peters explained.
Around 90% of UAE exports wereNZ$2.85 billion ($1.83 billion) in petroleum products and the rest included NZ$36 million ($23.13 million) in plastics.
“To ensure our energy security, the UAE is an important partner,” the official said.
Food and beverages, including dairy products, meat, vegetables and fruits, were New Zealand’s major exports to the UAE, about 50% of which were re-exported from the UAE to other countries in the region, he said.
Peters met on Wednesday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheik Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Sheik Abdullah and Peters shared views on a variety of mutually interesting issues and the current regional and international trends during the conference.
