His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, has highlighted the centrality of trade to the global economy and the importance of modernizing supply chains to meet the challenges in the year ahead during his visit to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
After a record year for global trade, with the total value exceeding US$32 trillion and world container shipping hitting an all-time high in August 2022, the World Trade Organisation has trimmed its forecast for trade growth to just 1 percent in 2023, citing increasing downside risks from inflation, consumer spending and the ongoing energy crisis.
HE Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi used his visit to Davos to engage leaders across the world to champion multilateralism and accelerate the adoption of technology to catalyze the flow of goods and ensure all nations have equal, unrestricted access to the global trading system. Citing the UAE’s own trade successes in 2022, including record exports and the first half-year to exceed AED1 trillion in the nation’s history, and the WTO’s decision to host its 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi in Q1 2024, Dr Thani positioned the UAE as a gateway to the world – and a leading voice on trade reform.
It was a positive vision he shared during ministerial meetings with HE Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy of Ukraine, HE Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce for Cambodia, two nations with whom the UAE is now negotiating Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements. He also met with HE Jozef Sikela, Minister of Industry and Trade for the Czech Republic, HE Alfredo Pascual, Secretary of Trade and Industry for the Philippines, Hadja Lahbib Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions for Belgium, and HE Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade for Morocco.
HE Dr Thani also held talks with Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), whose 8th World Investment Forum will be hosted in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi in October 2023. HE Dr Thani also met with business leaders from the private equity, ICT, advanced technologies and AI, pharmaceuticals, and financial service sectors.
HE Dr Thani said Davos always provides a welcome opportunity to build consensus with the international community on issues of trade and investment. “Amid an uncertain global economic global climate, the UAE remains an open, ambitious, dynamic economy that is reaching out to the world to accelerate trade. The center of economic gravity is slowly shifting south and east, and we are right at the heart of this evolution. In H1 2022, the Middle East experienced the highest year-on-year trade growth in the world at 74 percent, and we believe our foreign trade agenda can continue to facilitate global trade.
“We want to be the bridge to the private sector, driving new trade deals, partnerships, FDI, and talent migration, and helping to connect the world’s fastest growing economies. This why we are working with the World Economic Forum to study ways to inject technology into our global trading system and drive that change. At a time when many worry about deglobalization, we are looking to drive global economic expansion – to the benefit of us all.”
His Excellency also participated in the “TradeTech Meets FinTech” panel discussion alongside Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Makhtar Diop, Managing Director, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Peggy Alford, Executive Vice-President, Global Sales, PayPal. The panel explored how the digitization of international supply chains and transactions will enable more accessible and reliable trade, financing and payments.
The discussions came on the back of the UAE signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Economic Forum to support the launch of the UAE’s Trade Tech Initiative, which seeks to accelerate the integration of advanced technology into the global trading system.
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos took place under the theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” and brought together more than 2,700 government and business leaders to engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues and help find solutions through public-private cooperation.
