Mineral products ranked first in Romania’s exports to the United Arab Emirates

A delegation of the Romanian Government was on a working visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during April 1-2. The official delegation was represented by Radu Stefan Oprea – Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Darius Valcov – State Councillor to the Government of Romania, Monica Gheorghita – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ionel Minea – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transport.

Stefan-Radu Oprea met on April 2, in Abu Dhabi, with HE Sultan Al Jaber, PhD, Minister of State in the Government of the United Arab Emirates, responsible for strategic projects, the main topic of the discussions being to attract investment in Romania. The UAE official has expressed openness to identify viable projects in areas of common interest such as infrastructure, energy and agriculture. During the talks, working groups and a calendar of meetings were set up, so that projects can be launched in the coming months. The next assessment of the state of technical discussions will take place within a month.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the UAE companies Mubadala, Al Dahra Holding and Masdar City.

“The development of economic and trade relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is an explicit objective of the Government. In this context, the United Arab Emirates represents one of the most important partners in the area, as investment potential. We support the consolidation of business-to-business relationships between companies in the two countries,” Stefan-Radu Oprea stated.

The agenda of the visit also included meetings with representatives of Mohammad Omar Bin Haider Holding Group, DP World, Dubai Trade and Custom Dubai. At the meeting with representatives of Air Arabia Group, the possibility of opening a Bucharest-Sharjah flight by the end of this year was discussed.

In 2018, the total value of bilateral trade was USD 356.2 million, out of which USD 283.9 million Romania’s exports and USD 72.3 million imports from the UAE. The main categories exported by Romania are: mineral products, wood and wooden products, electrical equipment, common metals and optical instruments.