Abu Dhabi, UAE – The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, on Friday met with a delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, led by William C. Daroff, CEO of the Conference, to discuss ways of developing the strategic relations between the US and the UAE, in light of the Abraham Accords signed by the UAE and Israel in 2020.
During the meeting, Al Zeyoudi highlighted the long-standing strategic relations between the UAE and the US, noting that their economic and trade exchanges are witnessing significant growth.
The two sides also discussed the prospects of boosting their partnership and exchanging expertise, and ways of maintaining peace and promoting the values of social tolerance.
Al Zeyoudi highlighted the main pillars of the UAE’s new economic model saying that it is characterised by flexibility and openness to the rest of the world.
The new model, he added, focusses on advancing new economic sectors, most notably technology, entrepreneurship, space and renewable energy, as well as on attracting talent and experts, building the capacities of the Emirati labour force, and ensuring women’s empowerment in the development drive.
The minister briefed the delegation on the recent economic developments in the country, including the establishment of an economic ecosystem that supports growth and prosperity and attracts investments, by allowing 100 percent company ownership for foreign nationals, drafting laws that protect intellectual property, launching a strategy aimed at attracting talent across all sectors, and signing comprehensive economic partnership agreements with India, Israel and Indonesia, with other countries expected to follow.
“Now, as a result of this forward-looking vision and the legislation it enacted, the UAE has established itself as a major global economic hub and a key actor in the development of international commerce, as evidenced by the GDP growth of 8.5 percent at current prices in the first half of 2022,” the minister said. “The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade broke previously unheard-of records after crossing the AED2 trillion threshold for the first time in its history to hit AED2.233 trillion in 2022, a growth of 17 percent from 2021, demonstrating the UAE economy’s resilience in the face of global problems.”