Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade, Abdullah Al Saleh, said that the volume of non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and Russia during the past five years amounted to 14.1 billion dollars (about 51.7 billion dirhams), while non-oil exchange between the two countries last year reached 3.4 billion dollars. US $ 2.5 billion in 2017 with an annual growth of 36%.
He stressed that bilateral and economic relations between the UAE and Russia are witnessing significant growth in all development sectors, especially in light of the two countries announced the comprehensive strategic partnership between them last year, which includes the political, security, commercial, economic, cultural, humanitarian, scientific, technological and tourism fields.
Al Saleh added that more than 3,000 Russian companies are currently operating in the UAE, with activities in the real estate, trade, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors, as well as 576 brands and 25 Russian commercial agencies registered with the UAE.
Mutual investments
Al Saleh pointed out that Russia is one of the most promising investment destinations for UAE investments, as the UAE ranked first among the GCC countries in terms of FDI inflows in Russia, indicating that these investments vary in wholesale and retail trade, real estate and industrial sector, Finance, insurance, telecommunications, information technology, transport and storage, education, and repair of vehicles and motorcycles, while the balance of Russian investments in the UAE exceeded the $ 2 billion mark.
Al Saleh explained that the UAE accounted for 7.4% of the total Russian exports to the Arab group, while the UAE accounted for 7.7% of the total Russian foreign trade with the Arab group.
Russian tourists
Al-Saleh pointed out that the number of hotel guests from the Russian market in 2018 amounted to about one million and 83 thousand hotel guests, an increase of 37.4% compared to 2017, equivalent to 788 thousand new guests, and the number of hotel guests of Russian tourists during the first half of This year about 555 thousand hotel guests. Al-Saleh attributed the significant increase in the number of tourists from the Russian market to factors, the most important of which are the facilities provided by the state in terms of visa file for visitors from the Russian market, as well as the concerted marketing efforts of all local authorities and departments and the National Tourism Program at the Ministry of Economy. He pointed out that the increase in the number of flights to and from the Russian market, carried out by all national airlines had the greatest impact in increasing the number of tourists to the country.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Economy organized a promotional exhibition of the State in three Russian cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan in September 2019.
Economic cooperation
Al Saleh stressed that the UAE is Russia's first trade partner in the region, while Russia is among the most important trade partners of the country, pointing out that the map of joint economic cooperation between the two countries includes many vital sectors such as industry, transport, technology, nuclear energy and space, pointing to The two countries have many agreements and memoranda of understanding.
Al-Saleh pointed to the ongoing cooperation between the Mubadala Investment Fund and the Direct Investment Fund of the Russian Federation, as part of an investment consortium comprising investment funds from the Middle East to enter into regional development projects.
84 weekly flights
There are 84 weekly flights between the Emirates and Russia operated by the UAE carriers, with 28 flights for Emirates, seven for Etihad, 35 for flydubai and 14 for Air Arabia. . Business tourism in the UAE is of great importance to visitors from Russia, in addition to leisure tourism, which accounts for about 40% of the total tourism coming from Russia. The number of UAE visitors to Russia is growing steadily, with Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Sochi becoming the top tourist destinations.
Abu Dhabi - WAM