The United Arab Emirates this year became the main guest country at the forum, and all this time remains one of our main trade and economic partners in the Persian Gulf region.
The motto of SPIEF-23 is “Sovereign development is the basis of a just world. Let’s join forces for the sake of future generations.” And it fully corresponds to the nature of Russian-Emirati cooperation. Trade and economic cooperation is growing, despite external factors, including geopolitical risks, fragmentation of the global economy, sanctions confrontation, destruction of transport and logistics chains. Mutual trade turnover sets records: in the last 2022 alone, it increased by almost 70% and amounted to about $9 billion. In exact figures, Russian exports grew by 71% and reached $8.68 billion, imports increased by 5.8%, amounting to $292 million. So far, these figures are calculated in US dollars, but both sides are increasingly interested in the transition to settlements in national currencies. And I am sure that we will definitely achieve this goal in the foreseeable future.
The UAE confidently holds the position of Russia’s largest business partner among the countries of the Arab world. Cooperation is developing in the space, transport, industrial and investment fields. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, as of the beginning of 2022, the volume of direct accumulated investments from the UAE to Russia amounted to $1.52 billion, from our country to the Emirates – $1.7 billion.
Humanitarian ties are being actively strengthened, as well as cooperation in the field of science, education, culture, tourism, and inter-parliamentary dialogue. At the same time, as the discussion showed, the potential of opportunities is far from exhausted. We hope that the Russian-Emirati trade and industrial turnover, as well as the number of significant infrastructure and technological projects, will only grow, creating a stable basis for the development of bilateral relations.
