UAE keen to boost UK trade ties

Abu Dhabi: Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said the ministry has adopted a focused programme of action to follow up on the results of the previous UAE-UK Joint Economic Committee meeting and to ensure that the implementation of its decisions is running smoothly.

Al Mansouri said both countries should benefit from the successful results of the committee meeting.

"The implementation programme will help to enhance the economic ties between our countries. We will be directly communicating with British officials in the coming three months by arranging video conferences. The first one will be in January 2010 to discuss the progress and updates of implementation of the projects and activities that were agreed by both parties at the meeting," he added.

Involvement

Al Mansouri said the ministry is keen to involve local departments in the programme and that there will be common meetings with the concerned parties to explore the opportunities to participate in the ministry's programme.

Mohammad Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehi, Director-General of the Ministry of Economy, said: "The implementation programme will include various economic sectors with a focus on increasing investments through our Investment Department at the ministry which will coordinate with the concerned parties in the UAE and the British Embassy to specify the areas. We will form a team to coordinate with the UK in the domain of financial services, especially Islamic services, and another team will coordinate the fields of research and development and renewable energy."