The ministerial meeting of the first session of the Joint Economic Committee between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Latvia was launched in the capital Abu Dhabi today, headed by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy representing the government of the UAE, and Ralphs Nemeru, Minister of Economic Affairs representing the Latvian government.
During the committee’s meeting, the governments of the two countries agreed on a joint program for economic work over the next two years that ends with the second session of the committee and included a number of mechanisms and cooperation frameworks identified in 11 axes that represent important pillars of economic development in the two countries’s agendas, including trade and investment, tourism, innovation and small and medium enterprises. Energy and renewable energy and industry, agriculture and food products, financial and insurance sector, civil aviation and logistics, information and communications technology, education, culture, health.
Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy, said during his speech that strengthening trade exchange is a priority on the agenda of the committee, as the volume of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reached $ 69 million in 2018, with growth of more than 18% compared to the previous year, indicating that this figure It does not rise to the aspirations and capabilities of both sides, and that the committee’s agreement to intensify joint efforts to increase trade exchange to $ 120 million in 2021 is in the service of the commercial interests of the two parties and enhance their standing on the map of world trade.
For his part, Latvian Minister of Economic Affairs Ralphs Nemeru said that the UAE has achieved distinguished leadership and progress in various fields of economic development, stressing his country's keenness to develop levels of cooperation with the UAE to serve their common interests and stressed the importance of the outputs of this committee and its work to develop partnership in 11 sectors related A priority in the economic plans of the two countries.

Program of 11 axes
The minutes of the committee's meeting included 11 major axes of cooperation that serve the economic goals of the two countries.
According to the committee’s agenda, the two sides agreed in the axis of trade and investment on a set of measures to raise trade exchange and deepen the linkage between the two countries ’markets, and work to raise trade exchange from $ 69 million in 2018 to about $ 120 million in 2021, with a growth rate of more than 70%, as well Enhance mutual benefit of both sides from Latvia's participation in the Dubai Expo 2020.
The parties agreed in the axis of tourism to encourage joint tourism activities and the development of tourism cooperation in the framework of international organizations, investment in tourism facilities and activities in the two countries, and exchange vocational training programs in the tourism sector.
The governments of the two countries agreed in the field of innovation and small and medium-sized companies to exchange experiences and learn about policies, legislations and best practices in this sector, cooperation between small and medium companies in the two countries during participation in Expo 2020, and intensify partnership channels and business meetings between the two sides in the fields of innovation, emerging companies and small and medium enterprises .
As for the energy and renewable energy sector and industry, the two sides expressed the importance of exchanging experiences and policies in the field of energy, electrical energy engineering, and developing joint activities in energy efficiency technologies and innovative technologies in the field of smart building materials.
The two sides affirmed their mutual interest in improving cooperation in the field of agriculture and food products, and developing the two countries' trade in halal food by increasing coordination in the field of standards and accreditation in a manner that is in line with the Halal standards and the UAE quality mark.
The two sides agreed to develop trade in commodities related to animal products, as well as exchange information and knowledge in the field of modern technologies in agriculture and the food industry, and exchange experiences in the fields of hydroponics and organic agriculture.
The items of cooperation agreed also included increasing coordination and exchanging experiences in the financial and insurance sector, and enhancing cooperation in the field of transport, aviation and logistic services, including cooperation between logistic companies in the two countries and benefiting from their vital ports and their free and economic specialized areas, as well as discussing opportunities for cooperation in civil aviation and land transport Marine.
They also agreed to cooperate and exchange experiences in the information and communications technology sector, including innovation projects in the fifth generation telecommunications network, and digitization and modeling activities in the construction sector.
The committee's agenda also included cooperation in the fields of education, advanced science programs and research, and the promotion of effective communication between the academic institutions of the two countries.
On the theme of culture, the two sides stressed the importance of promoting cultural exchange, activities and creative industries, and enhancing communication in various cultural fields.
Finally, the minutes of the committee included strengthening cooperation in health, medical and life sciences.