ABU DHABI - The Minister of Financial Markets of Sweden Mats Odell has said that his country was keen on building up relationships with the UAE in the financial sector, apart from other sectors of the economy.

The minister who is currently on an official visit to the UAE, leading a delegation of top players in the financial sector in Sweden, told Khaleej Times that the financial sector in his country had rich experience in ensuring record performance even during 
difficult periods.

"We would like to share this experience with the UAE and other countries in the region.''

He said that the banking sector in Sweden has been performing remarkably well even during the current global financial meltdown. "Our four banks which accounts for 80 per cent of the financial operations in the country had made Dh40 billion profits in 2008.''

We had passed through an acute economic and financial crisis in the 1990s and we faced that by evolving effective strategies like enforcing strict regulatory norms. The memories of those crisis days are still fresh. This has made the Swedish people, particularly those working in the financial sector, very cautious,'' he said. 

"The entry of the Swedish financial firms into the financial sector in the UAE will also attract more investments from Sweden to here. This is because the Swedish financial firms working in the Emirates will be able to give a better picture to the investors in Sweden about the possible avenues of investments here,'' he said.

The Minister said he and the delegation members would be holding discussions with the leaders and decision makers in the government and private sector in the UAE