Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, agreed to deepen collaboration on industries of the future during a table CEO round in Dubai organized under the theme “Energizing the Future”. They both expressed the desire to catalyze investment flows and joint ventures in priority sectors such as renewable energy, the space industry, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, agrotechnology and health solutions. intelligent mobility, and concluded the meeting with the signing of a cooperation agreement on water management.
Mark Rutte led a Dutch delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to seek stronger trade and investment ties between the two countries, including the creation of a sustainable economic corridor capable of capitalizing on the opportunities created by Net Zero and of the desire for decarbonized value chains. This includes the potential for green hydrogen transport between the two countries.
The UAE and the Netherlands have expanded their bilateral relations in recent years, with the Netherlands among the UAE’s top five trading partners within the EU. In the first half of 2023, bilateral non-oil trade reached AED 11.2 billion, an increase of 20.4% compared to the same period in 2022.
Al Zeyoudi said the roundtable, which was also attended by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UAE, Gérard Paul Marie Hubert Steigs, helped to underline the commitment to working together to develop pioneering solutions to the problems the most urgent in the world. “The Kingdom of the Netherlands has been a long-standing ally in our approach to developing an agile economy based on knowledge and innovation. Our private sectors have already forged important joint ventures in sectors such as agritechnology and the energy transition, and we believe there are many more high-value opportunities to explore on the path to net zero emissions. We both share a vision for long-term sustainable growth based on technology and talent, and believe that our meeting today will trigger a new wave of cooperation on multiple fronts,” he added.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte agreed that both sides have many synergies on the issue of sustainability. “The United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands have a lot in common. We are both trading nations with a big global impact, so it’s only logical that our relationship has a strong focus on trade and investment. But we also both have major ambitions for green hydrogen and that’s why we are strengthening ties to create a green hydrogen corridor of the future.”
Prime Minister Mark Rutte acknowledged that the two sides have many synergies on the issue of sustainability. The United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands have many things in common. We are both trading nations with significant global impact. It is, therefore, entirely logical that our relations are strongly focused on trade and investment. But we also both have big ambitions for green hydrogen and that is why we are strengthening our ties to create the green hydrogen corridor of the future.
The minister also invited Dutch entities to take advantage of numerous incentives offered within the UAE’s vibrant business ecosystem, including full foreign ownership, flexible tax policies with expedited business formation and licensing. He also highlighted the country’s global connectivity, supported by world-class infrastructure and a new generation of trade agreements under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement program. UAE-based exporters now have seamless access to markets in India, Israel, Indonesia, Turkey and Cambodia, which represent almost a quarter of the world’s population.
This article is originally published on wam.ae
