Saturday, February 25, 2023 – 11:46 PM
ABU DHABI, 25th February, 2020 (WAM) — The United Arab Emirates hosted the fifteenth session of the joint economic committee between the UAE and the brotherly People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, which was held under the chairmanship of His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, and His Excellency Ahmed Zagdar, Algerian Minister of Industry, in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, along with a number of government officials, representatives of the private sector and investment companies from both countries.
His Excellency Al Marri affirmed that the UAE-Algeria relations are firm and their roots go back to the frameworks of brotherhood and partnership established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and President Houari Boumediene, “may God have mercy on them.”
He said: Economic cooperation constitutes one of the main pillars of brotherly relations between the two countries, and non-oil trade between the two sides has witnessed a recovery from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it increased from $ 701 million in 2020 to about $ 800 million by the end of 2022, achieving a growth of 14 percent. We look forward to working with joint efforts during the next stage, especially through the programs of this committee, to raise our trade exchanges above the level of one billion dollars recorded in 2019.
His Excellency praised the effectiveness of the committee in advancing cooperation between the public and private sectors, and called on both sides to continue working to enhance its role.
For his part, His Excellency Zagdar affirmed that the meeting of the committee reflects the sincere political will of the leaderships of the two countries and their firm determination to upgrade brotherly relations and cooperation to the level of strategic partnership, in a way that achieves their common interests and aspirations for further development and advancement.
He said: We look forward to strengthening cooperation and increasing mutual investments with brothers in the United Arab Emirates in a number of strategic sectors, including mines, the knowledge economy, and entrepreneurship, as well as benefiting from the Emirati experience in the financial and banking field and sovereign funds, in addition to working to establish a partnership Industrial and technological and exploring more investment opportunities in the industrial sector.
In turn, His Excellency Dr. Al-Zeyoudi said: The UAE is one of Algeria’s most important Arab trading partners during 2021, with its acquisition of nearly 20 percent of Algeria’s trade volume with Arab countries, and the first in the Gulf with a rate of more than 40 percent of Algeria’s trade with the GCC countries. Gulf Cooperation… In terms of investment, the total UAE investment flows to Algeria amounted to about $600 million by the end of 2021, as Emirati companies invest in many vital sectors in the Algerian markets, including medicines, cosmetics, agriculture, renewable energy, and others.. On the other hand, The balance of Algeria’s investments in the UAE until the end of 2020 amounted to about $240 million, and they were concentrated in the financial, insurance and real estate sectors.
The committee identified new paths that will lead the strategic partnership between the two countries during the next stage, which included strengthening political and economic cooperation, with a focus on exploring more promising opportunities in the sectors of trade and mutual investment, advanced technology and innovative industries, energy and mineral wealth, banking and financial services, air and sea transport and services. Logistics, agriculture and food security, tourism, entrepreneurship and emerging projects, and the customs sector.
At the conclusion of the committee’s work, the two sides signed five memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the fields of seismic engineering, investment promotion, industrial and technological cooperation, digital transformation and digitization, in addition to a memorandum of understanding regarding an executive program for cooperation in the field of standardization.
Awad Mukhtar / Mustafa Badr Al-Din