Page 215 - Ministry of Economy - December 2017

12/26/2017 Accelerating bilateral ties - Khaleej Times
"Our role is to bring information from the region. We also discuss business opportunities beyond the UAE, as
there are prospects in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and further afield to Morocco," he said. "This is a multi-year phase

of promotion. We get the data and intelligence back to Australia, start working with the customer base here and
look at what platform to use to bring them together."

In the UAE, Austrade takes part in major events throughout the year. It is also looking to explore new areas such
as professional services, including lawyers, accountants, consultants, as well as services around digitisation of

economies, using data, which is a big theme in Dubai, and financial services and technologies.

"There is a strong momentum in the region towards developing these sectors. We have new companies and

capabilities in Australia offering these cutting-edge services," he explained.

On the investment front, the UAE has been an active investor in Australia, said Seeber. The Northern Australian

Investment Forum took place in Cairns recently and brought together six representatives from the Gulf.

Also recently, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the UAE's Minister of Economy, participated in the Business
Forum, organised by Invest Victoria and discussed investment in the food sector, technology and innovation.

"There is active bilateral conversation around investment. Within my office here, I have three staff that work on
investments. We discuss topics such as what is the reality for investments in Australia, and what does the
pipeline look like in terms of specific projects," he added.

Spotlight on education

Australia gets a number of students from the region who choose the country for its quality higher education
programmes. At present, there are two Australian schools in Sharjah, the Victoria International School and

Australian International School. A new branch of the latter is currently being built in Dubai.

There are also three Australian universities in Dubai. This includes the University of Wollongong Dubai

(UOWD), one of the first international universities that opened in the UAE, Murdoch University, and the newly
opened Curtin University from Western Australia, which recently launched its new campus this year in Dubai
International Academic City.

Seeber said, "There is a lot of demand for Australian education and the Dubai-campuses attract students from
Africa, Central Asia and MENA, as it is easier for them to come here and study. There are not many places in the

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