UAE ‘built to withstand economic shocks’, Minister says amid US-Israel war on Iran
Minister urges calm consumer behaviour, says food supply remains stable
Dubai: The UAE is “resilient and built to withstand economic shocks”, the country’s Minister of Economy and Tourism said in an interview with CNBC, after recent regional attacks.
In a transcript of an interview with CNBC’s Dan Murphy on “Access Middle East”, shared with Gulf News, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri addressed concerns about growth, trade and supply chains.
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“The aspect of the UAE when we look at it as we look at the long term aspect, so when we see the aspect of the growth that is going to happen to UAE on the long term, these kind of hiccups that happens and the tensions that's happened on the geopolitical issues that we've seen in the past, doesn't really change a lot in the long term aspect.”
He added, “When it looks at the aspect of the impact that happens to the continuity of businesses, economy is going to still grow. It's still going to have the aspect of, you know, a little bit of the service in the beginning, but it's going to flatten out and go back to growth. UAE, like said, have built a character for itself that really shows boldness and resilience through its systems.”
On trade flows
On trade flows, including at Jabel Ali, the minister said goods continue to move through the country’s ports.
“We have a very continuous supply of goods through all ports, not just Jabal Ali. We have a very strong aspect of diversified locations of storage facilities. We have retailers that we have connected with yesterday and today. We have inspectors that went on to the market on the ground to make sure that the availability of food, and the pricing as well, is stable for the consumer. The important aspect is consumer behavior.”
He added, “They should not really focus on, you know, jumping on and buying things they don't need. I think it should be an open behavior of purchasing what's needed, and that's something which is important. The UAE has a stable storage and continuity throughout the system. I think it's important to assure everybody that the UAE’s system is in work.”
“We have been designing this preparedness for long, for many, many years. We have embedded it in our strategies. We have embedded it in our system will have embedded in our legislation,” he said.
“The UAE is always ready for any situation of any challenge that we've seen, and we stand up to these kind of challenges as well with both actions and this is what we do today, and this is what you'll see as well in the future.”
Could the situation worsen?
Asked whether the situation could worsen, he said:
“I hope the situation gets better. And I think that the most important aspect is that these situation is goes back to the diplomatic dialogue, back to the conference rooms, where negotiation needs to happen.”
“We have spoken about it in the past to de-escalate the situation. We have spoken about the diplomatic routes, and channels are the most important aspect when handling these situations. And we urge to this ready escalate these situations back to diplomatic channels to make sure that this is something that can go back to these rules of negotiations.”
