Joining BRICS supports UAE’s multilateralism approach, says economy minister

Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the Minister of Economy, on Monday said joining BRICS “is huge for the UAE” as the country has always been working on a multilateralism aspect.

“We want peace and prosperity and with that comes economy and trade. Joining BRICS will add a lot as well to the UAE's multilateralism support to the world. We were focusing on global trade as the UAE has always been a global hub. For CEPA with India, Indonesia and others, we are going global south. That is another important aspect we are focusing on. Anyone connected with the UAE on bilateral trade, we look at how to grow trade by 10 folds,” Al Marri said during the interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday.

The UAE along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina will join the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group on January 1, 2024, after an invitation was accepted by the countries last week. The group currently represents around 40 per cent of the world's population and over a quarter of GDP.

Al Marri added that the UAE also wants to grow trade with the US and other Western countries.

“We’re focusing on growth with the US. We have grown trade with the US to $23 billion (in 2021) as against $20 billion in the previous year. There is a lot of focus on the West as well. The UAE is always focusing on how we can bring the world together.”

He pointed out that the UAE is looking at playing a key role in emerging markets and what makes it easier for trading hubs to trade globally.

“We are more into inclusiveness of global trade market and not decisiveness of trade markets.”

7% growth in 2023

Al Marri is confident of achieving 7 per cent GDP growth this year with the support of reforms and agreements that the country has launched in the past few years.

“We want to grow by 7 per cent and that is a very important aspect while we double down on trade. In the last couple of years, we opened 100 per cent ownership that gave freedom to own companies in the mainland. The number of new companies has grown by 275,000 in just one year. We betted on doubling down on CEPA and that took us to $2 trillion trade for the first time and we want to go on higher,” Al Marri said in the interview.

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The Gulf countries grew at an impressive rate of 7.9 per cent last year. While the first-quarter 2023 figures issued by the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics in August revealed the UAE GDP growing by 3.8 per cent with most of the strategic sector achieving growth.

He also credited Golden Visas and other reforms for an increase in population growth and the inflow of highly skilled labour and talent into the country.

“We are a big talent hub. We give Golden Visa not just to investors but also to people in the fields of culture, arts, sports, and science. That really pushed people to the UAE,” he said.

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