British investments in UAE valued at $20.5bn

The UAE’s Minister of Economy, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, revealed on Tuesday that British investments in the country are valued at $20.5bn.

“The UK is the UAE’s third leading partner in non-oil commodities trade today. The UAE was UK’s top Arab trade partner in 2019, accounting for 32 per cent of the UK’s foreign trade with other countries,” state news agency WAM reported the minister as saying.

“The non-oil foreign trade between both countries in the first eight months in 2020 was valued at approximately $5.5bn at that time and the UAE’s non-oil export to UK accounted for nearly $500 million, which reflected a growth rate of 25 per cent,” he said during at a virtual ministerial briefing with UK Minister for Investment, Lord Grimstone.

The virtual event titled ‘UK-UAE perspectives: Growth and partnership for 2021 and beyond’ was organized by Bloomberg and focused on the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read: UAE non-oil trade reaches Dhs658.3bn in H1 2020

The ministers also talked about the importance of strong trade and investment ties between the UK and the UAE in promoting a sustainable economic rebound and deepening links post-Brexit.

Al Marri said that the UK accounted for 16 per cent of the total FDI balance in the UAE as of the end of 2018.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s direct investments in the UK stood at $7.2bn by the end of 2018.

Al Marri said that the UAE is one of the 27 top investors in the UK, adding that the UAE is looking forward to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the UK and GCC states.

Lord Grimstone added that the UAE will have a greater role in a free-trade framework between the UK and the GCC when the FTA is materialised.

With regards to the economic recovery made thus far, Al Marri added Abu Dhabi stock market indices has already reached pre-pandemic levels recently.