UAE ambassador pledges to back Britain after EU pullout
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will support the UK when it is out of the EU Single Market, the Gulf country’s ambassador said in Cardiff this week.
Speaking at the Cardiff Business Club ambassadorial lunch, His Excellency Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui said the UAE is the fourth-largest export market for the UK.
When the UK is out of the Single Market, the UAE will “facilitate exports for the UK to the region”, Mr Almazroui said.
The UAE is made up of seven emirates including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is the second-largest Arab economy and the third-largest in the region after Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Almazroui said the country’s position gives it access to markets containing two billion people within four hours in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
He said it is following a diversification strategy and is now one of the most diversified economies in the region: “It is a post-oil era driven by innovation and knowledge. Our target by 2021 is to be 80% diversified.”
The UAE’s economy has continued to grow despite the challenging global economy over past decade.
“We have weathered the financial crisis and have a sound economic and fiscal policy to counter future challenges and support our longterm strategy,” the ambassador said.
The UAE is proposing a new investment law, paving the way for 100% foreign ownership of enterprises.
“Today we are the 16th most competitive economy globally and we aim to be in the top five by 2021,” Mr Almazroui said.
Trade between the UAE and UK has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2009, when bilateral trade stood at £7.5bn, the two governments set a target of increasing trade by 60% to £12bn by 2015. That target was achieved two years early and the aim now is to reach £20bn by 2020 – an ambitious target, Mr Almazroui admitted.
“In view of Brexit it remains to be seen whether we can actually achieve that target,” he said.
But he added that the UAE “respects the decision” of the British people to leave the EU and that the UAE “seeks an opportunity in strengthening ties with the UK”.
He said: “At GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] level, we are exploring forming a trading relation with a further free trade agreement with the UK, a relation that will see our existing partnership with the UK further strengthened and deepened.”
As well as being a major trading partner, the UAE invests in a wide range of UK companies.
One and a half million British citizens visit the UAE each year and there are more than 5,000 UK companies in the country.
The UAE’s government has determined that the British economy is robust and that Brexit means business as usual. It is Britain’s largest export market regionally and the 10th-largest globally, with aspirations to be the fourth when its new trade expansion target is reached.
The UAE has created an environment where it is easy for foreign businesses to come and do business. There are 48 free zones in the country, including the world’s largest free zone at Jebel Ali in Dubai.
Free zones offer 100% exemption from import and export duties, no personal income taxes, corporate tax exemptions for up to 50 years, 100% repatriation of profit and 100% foreign ownership of enterprises.
The UAE is looking to attract foreign partners in a wide range of sectors including defence, aerospace, manufacturing, tourism, renewable energy, petrochemicals, real estate, communications and infrastructure.
The ambassadorial lunch was sponsored by Hugh James.