Page 240 - MOE ENGLISH PR - MAY 2024

5/31/24, 3:19 PM UAE Ministers and officials praise comprehensive economic partnership agreement between UAE and South Korea
community, in turn helping to boost our food security ambitions. This will be one of the
areas the new UAE-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will enable

us to unlock, and we look forward to working with our counterparts to identify and mine all

the opportunities this platform will create for both nations.”

His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade said:

“The United Arab Emirates is undergoing a profound economic transformation, driven by a

combination of trade, talent and targeted investment into high-growth sectors. Our
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement program is essential to these

ambitions, strengthening relations with key allies around the world and creating new
opportunities for our exporters, investors and innovators. The UAE-Korea CEPA

embodies our ambitions, offering greater integration with one of the 12 largest global
economies and an industrial powerhouse. It will build on already robust ties, with non-oil

bilateral trade valued at US$5.3 billion in 2023, which maintained the record levels set in

2022. The UAE is already Korea’s second-largest trade partner in the Arab World,
accounting for 20 percent of Korean trade with the region, and we fully expect that figure to

increase significantly in the years ahead.

“Importantly, this deal will also strengthen a major trade corridor and, by connecting
opportunity right the way from Asia through Africa and into South America, drive the

development of East-West supply chains. It will create market opportunities for our
exporters and manufacturers, and enable our logistics companies, freight-forwarders and

wholesalers to play an increasingly central role in global trade. We also see the expansion
of Korean investment into the UAE as we become an important gateway for its products

into the high-potential markets of the Middle East and Africa.”

His Excellency Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE said:
“The comprehensive partnership agreement meets the UAE's ambitions to solidify growth,

deepen and accelerate the economic diversification journey by enhancing foreign trade,

increasing foreign direct investments FDI, and strengthening relations in the financial,
banking, and insurance sectors, particularly in the areas of innovation, advanced financial

technology, and cross-border payment technologies.”

Ahmed Abdullah bin Lahej, Director General of the Federal Customs Authority said: “The
UAE’s CEPA program is proving to be a powerful catalyst for foreign trade, boosting our

non-oil foreign trade in both goods and services to record highs in 2023. The

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