On the sidelines of the World Investment Forum .. UAE is discussing enhancing cooperation with 7 countries

Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, held a series of high-level meetings with ministers and government officials from a group of countries around the world, during the opening day of the Eighth World Investment Forum, whose activities began yesterday, Monday, in Abu Dhabi and will continue until October 20.

Those meetings included talks with President José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, and Rebecca Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), according to a press release.

Al-Zeyoudi met with Mustafa Varank, Chairman of the Turkish-Emirati Parliamentary Friendship Group, and the two parties discussed prospects for cooperation under the umbrella of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Turkey.

He also met with Manuel Tovar Rivera, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, and Marco Cadiza, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, During the two meetings, Al-Zeyoudi touched on bilateral trade and investment relations with the two friendly countries.

Investment exchange

He held talks with Vahan Kerobyan, and they discussed enhancing trade and investment exchange in sectors including health care, information and communications technology, infrastructure, and logistics services.

The Minister also met with Malaithong Komasith, Minister of Industry and Trade of Laos, and Kudratov Chavkatovic, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of Uzbekistan.

The UAE ranked 15th globally in terms of foreign direct investment flows abroad, according to the World Investment Report issued by the United Nations in 2023, after investing $25 billion in 2022, an increase of 10 percent over 2021.

Economic Development

On the other hand, the head of the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, Ahmed Jassim Al Zaabi, said: “The UAE has succeeded in attracting investors from all over the world.

  Investors from more than 170 countries around the world have chosen the UAE to launch their investments in order to achieve growth, expansion and prosperity over the past 10 years.

Global investors

He added: “The UAE has established its position among the most prominent and active global investors, contributing to achieving growth through UAE investments in 122 countries, which included 35 diverse sectors during the past five years alone. 

In confirmation of our commitment to sustainability, the value of the UAE’s foreign investments in the field of renewable energy reached approximately $45 billion (165.6 billion dirhams). During the past year, it allocated about $36 billion (132.5 billion dirhams) of UAE investments abroad to renewable energy projects.

The value of direct foreign investments that the UAE attracted during the past year amounted to 23 billion US dollars (about 84.6 billion dirhams), an increase of 10% compared to the year 2021, placing it in 16th place globally in terms of attracting foreign direct investments and strengthening its position as a major global destination for investments.

Attracting new projects

  The UAE is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of attracting advanced new projects, as about (1,000) ambitious new projects were announced, a noticeable increase of 84% compared to the year 2021.

sustainable development

During his speech at the opening of the World Investment Forum, organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Al Zaabi said: “Our commitment to sustainable development was clearly reflected on the ground, as the UAE pledged last July to allocate national investments It amounts to more than $54 billion (200 billion dirhams) to triple the contribution of renewable energy over the next seven years.

During the past 15 years, we have invested more than $40 billion (147.2 billion dirhams) in clean and renewable energy sources, and we intend to invest an additional $160 billion (589 billion dirhams) over the next three decades, to achieve climate neutrality.”