ABU DHABI / WAM
Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, announced that the UAE’s non-oil trade over 10 years totalled AED16.14 trillion.
In an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), he stressed that the country’s growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“We work according to the plans of the UAE’s leadership to double national exports, foreign trade and economic growth,†Al Zeyoudi said, highlighting the fact that the UAE aims to increase the level of investment coming to the country to AED1 trillion within nine years, an increase of AED550 billion.
He then noted that many initiatives are being implemented to encourage exports and cooperation with business leaders, continue data transfer to ensure easy access to local market information, draft strategies for the services sector, and attract skills and talents to boost local efforts and achieve the integration of expertise.
Presenting the country’s foreign non-oil trade figures for 2012-2021, he stated that the total UAE’s non-oil exports exceeded AED2.154 trillion, an annual growth rate of 12 percent, and added that the value of re-exports is close to AED4.5 trillion, an annual growth rate of 4.9 percent.
The UAE’s total imports during the same period accounted for AED9.5 trillion, an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent. Moreover, the contribution of the UAE’s non-oil exports to the country’s foreign trade surged from 12 percent in 2012 to 19 percent in 2021, an average growth in non-oil exports that reached three times the average growth of the UAE’s total non-oil trade.