UAE-Spain trade may hit Dh5b as firms relocate

Dubai: Non-oil trade between the UAE and Spain is expected to hit Dh5 billion next year based on an annual growth rate of 15 per cent, Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Foreign Trade, told Gulf News.

In the first nine months of 2011, Spain's exports to the UAE reached ¤889 million and their imports from the UAE reached €165 million, according to Manuela Garcia, Spain's Commercial Attaché.

The trade balance has traditionally been in favour of Spain.

In the first half of 2011, trade reached Dh2.5 billion, with exports from the UAE worth Dh88 million, re-exports valued at Dh226 million and imports of Dh2.1 billion, Al Saleh said during his keynote speech at a seminar on UAE-Spain economic co-operation yesterday.

Renewable energy, tourism and Islamic banking are key areas for UAE exports to Spain, he said.

Telecoms, financial services and civil engineering are important sectors for UAE imports from Spain.

"The European crisis is an opportunity for a different way of doing business. Companies with less activity in Spain and the Eurozone are developing an interest in the MENA region very strongly," said Gonzalo de Benito Secades, Spanish Ambassador to the UAE. "Ten of the biggest Spanish companies and three Spanish banks have opened here in the last year."

The number of Spanish companies coming to the UAE has increased three-fold over the last three years, said Garcia.

"The Eurozone is not growing at a high speed, but the GCC area can forecast growth rates of about four per cent, so there is a lot of opportunity here for Spanish companies that were previously focused on Latin America."

Spain's partnership should not just be limited to doing business in the UAE, but using it as a gateway to African and Middle East markets, said Dr Nasser Saeedi, Chief Economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre.