The UAE and Montenegro, Montenegro, agreed during the second session of the Joint Economic Committee to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, agriculture, food security, renewable energy, transportation, entrepreneurship, startups, innovation, science and creative industries.
The discussions witnessed an agreement on the importance of studying opportunities to open direct airlines between the cities of the two countries to facilitate the movement of investors and merchants and promoting tourism exchange, and to discuss organizing a number of joint business forums and forums.
The Minister of Economy, Engineer Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, said that the UAE continues its efforts to enhance its commercial and investment presence in new and promising markets in various regions of the world, and from this perspective we encourage UAE companies to explore and pursue various investment opportunities in Montenegro markets, especially as the volume of investments Emirati women in Montenegro markets have witnessed significant growth during the past years.
He added that the cooperation plans between the two countries are mainly based on taking the Republic of Montenegro as the main economic partner of the UAE in the Balkans, and likewise the UAE is a major economic partner for Montenegro in the Arab region.
For its part, Montenegro Economy Minister, Dragica Sekolic, said that the UAE was the largest investor in Montenegro during 2017 and 2018, by entering into specific investments in vital sectors in renewable energy and tourism.
She noted that a facilitative framework for investors in Montenegro is being prepared that includes a set of incentives to facilitate and ensure ease of doing business, especially in priority sectors.
She stressed her country's keenness to attract more Emirati investments, pointing to the existence of wide opportunities to diversify the frameworks of trade cooperation and establish distinguished investment partnerships.
She stressed the importance of opening direct airlines between the cities of the two countries, which is one of the main incentives to attract investment from both sides, as well as promoting trade and tourism exchange.
She also stressed her country's keenness to benefit from participating in the activities of "Expo 2020 Dubai", which is an ideal platform for communication between the business community and reviewing the commercial potential of Montenegro.
It is noteworthy that the volume of non-oil trade exchange between the two countries during the first half of 2019 amounted to about 21 million dollars, while the total non-oil trade exchanges by the end of 2018 amounted to 31.2 million dollars.
21
One million dollars non-oil trade.