[Herald Interview] UAE financial system minister urges to increase enterprise partnerships

United Arab Emirates Economic system Minister Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri stated he hopes to see extra partnerships solid between firms from the UAE and South Korea primarily based on the strong ties constructed between the 2 governments.

“We have to see extra work that occurs and extra bulletins of agreements between firms,” Al Marri stated in an interview with The Korea Herald on Nov. 9.

“Now, the government-to-government relationship is on the highest,” the minister stated, underscoring the Complete Financial Partnership Settlement and UAE’s announcement of a $30 billion funding in Korea.

He urged Korean firms to increase into the Center East, Africa, Asia and Europe by way of the UAE’s strategic infrastructure and established buying and selling firms.

He was in Seoul final week for bilateral discussions with Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Younger, and to attend the Comeup World Startup Pageant in Seoul, organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Al Marri and Lee assessed developments made because the signing of cooperation memorandums of understanding between the 2 ministries in January this yr. Moreover, they sought to pinpoint new collaboration initiatives inside the SMEs and enterprise sectors.

Al Marri was main a enterprise delegation of 190 people from 40 firms on his go to to Seoul, included enterprise capital and different funds.

The UAE and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1980 and elevated them to a particular strategic partnership in 2018. The 2 international locations signed a joint assertion to conclude negotiations for the CEPA final month, in response to which South Korea will eradicate tariffs on 92.8 % of traded objects, and the UAE will take away tariffs on 91.2 % of merchandise inside 10 years.

The CEPA is predicted to spice up South Korea’s exports of eco-friendly autos, weaponry, electronics and recent meals, whereas the UAE will regularly eradicate a 3 % tariff on crude oil, guaranteeing steady provides and enhancing South Korean refiners’ competitiveness.

UAE investments in South Korea have primarily centered on actual property, telecommunications, power and logistics, however hopes are excessive in enterprise circles after the UAE declared to speculate $30 billion in South Korea throughout a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and UAE chief Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in January this yr.

“We’re past UAE and Korea as mates anymore; we’re extra like brothers and sisters,” Al Marri stated.

In accordance with South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Al Marri and Lee emphasised the significance of fostering exchanges between firms and buyers, in addition to selling collaboration districts, or clusters, and corporations to boost interactions amongst small and medium-sized ventures and ecosystems.

The ministers mentioned numerous new cooperative initiatives, the prospect of Korean firms getting into native cooperation districts and home funding officers collaborating within the Investopia international funding disclosure discussion board within the UAE, the ministry stated in a press launch Wednesday.

In the meantime, Al Marri additionally met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and mentioned methods to spice up financial cooperation that may open new pathways for startups, entrepreneurs and buyers.

The first agenda of visiting Seoul was to “meet, collaborate and open markets for companies.”

“I feel on G2G (government-to-government) degree, every part is finished. We’ve got now the chance for the B2B (business-to-business) degree to start out the actions and make issues occur,” stated Al Marri.

Acknowledging enhanced UAE-Korea financial cooperation, the minister hinted at an upcoming settlement between the state-run Export-Import Financial institution of Korea and the Funding Corp. of Dubai to increase financial ties.

“UAE has at all times performed a place the place it connects the world. We’ve got the best export financial system as properly, globally,” he added, hoping for elevated commerce, collaboration and new agreements between firms.

When requested concerning the UAE’s current initiatives on sustainability and environmentally pleasant practices, Al Marri highlighted the Ministry of Economic system’s engagement with the round financial system and give attention to lowering waste and carbon-dioxide emissions by utilizing cooking oil for biofuel and biodiesel.

UAE got here up with its Round Economic system Coverage for 2021-2031 to advertise such practices and sustainable consumption manufacturing patterns to cut back environmental influence and obtain fundamental wants. The coverage goals to undertake cleaner industrial manufacturing strategies inside the non-public sector and combine synthetic intelligence applied sciences into these processes.

In accordance with Al Marri, many main tasks for round financial system are within the pipeline, particularly within the circularity of batteries and refrigerated fuel to convey recycled supplies again into merchandise for widespread use.

The minister didn’t significantly cite any tasks, however he inspired Korean firms to benefit from the UAE’s incentives and efforts to cut back pink tape, paperwork and zero-tolerance insurance policies towards brokerages in authorities companies.

“We’ve got greater than 1,100 Korean firms within the UAE,” Al Marri famous, advocating round financial system initiatives and welcoming Korean firms to contribute to synthetic intelligence, agriculture know-how and farming.

Profile:

Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri has been UAE minister of financial system since July 2020. Along with his ministerial function, he holds key positions because the chairman of the Basic Civil Aviation Authority, the UAE Worldwide Buyers Council and the Board of Trustees of the CSR UAE Fund. Al Marri holds a bachelor’s diploma in civil engineering from the College of Sheffield in England.