Emirates member of world's most important rising economies club

Under the union, the UAE economy has transformed from a small one solely relying on oil to one of the most important rising economies of the world.

In terms of non-oil exports, the UAE came second among the largest Arab economies and first in the Gulf as exports rose by 2,316 per cent to Dh789 billion in 2008 in comparison with 1984.

Non-oil foreign trade is predicted to grow by 10 per cent to reach Dh868bn by the end of 2009 against Dh789bn in 2008.

The value of UAE foreign trade went up by 185 per cent over the past five years. According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, UAE foreign trade is expected to hit Dh1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, imports are expected to reach about Dh623bn by the end of the year compared to about Dh566bn in 2008. Non-oil exports are expected to reach Dh72bn in comparison with about Dh60bn last year. Re-exports are expected to grow to Dh180bn against Dh163bn in 2008.

Minister of Foreign Trade, Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, in a report to the Federal National Council on the ministry's expansion plan, said the government strategy is based on the opening of new markets, especially in African and developing countries, since the UAE trade exchange shows that some 85 per cent of non-oil foreign trade is focused on first trading partners while the rest of the countries make for 41 per cent.

The ministry is working with foreign and Arab business councils in the UAE as well as the private sector to broaden the base of trade exchanges to cover more countries.

The recent Global Competitiveness Report classified the UAE in the 23rd position among 133 countries, up eight positions from last year. It exceeded a number of advanced countries including Malaysia, Ireland, Italy, China, India, Brazil and Russia.

Compared with the size of the population and the area, the UAE's contribution to foreign trade holds an advanced status not only in terms of trade position, but also its potential to attract foreign direct investments.

In this area, the UAE surpassed all countries of the region.

The UAE is also a capital-exporting market and it is one of the leading countries in this respect. UAE companies invest in many countries and in almost all sectors including real estate, telecommunications, industry, financial markets and petrochemicals.

And UAE national companies have started to open branches in foreign markets.

The UAE pursues a policy of trade and economic openness to the outside world, and this is obvious in the volume of foreign trade that stood at about 173 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2008 against 157 per cent in the previous year.

Agreements signed between the UAE and other countries within the GCC common market actively helped develop trade exchange, especially in the presence of open channels to solve any problems that might emerge in trade exchange transactions.

UAE-Saudi Arabia trade saw considerable growth over the past years. Saudi Arabia and other GCC states are the most important trading partners, especially under the customs union and the common market. Also the Arab free trade agreement gives UAE exports preferential treatment.

Asian countries account for 48 per cent of the value of the UAE's foreign trade, followed by EU countries (25 per cent) and the US and Canada (eight per cent). Trade with non-Arab African countries grew by 50 per cent last year compared with 2007, followed by Asian countries (46 per cent), North America (44 per cent), GCC (42 per cent) and Arab countries (9.6 per cent).

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