The relations between United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan became more collaborative in 2011, when UAE established the Embassy in Baku. In general, the relations between the two countries can be categorized in two periods: the first period before the Embassy and the second, after the opening of the Embassy of UAE in Azerbaijan.
The cooperation has developed with a steady pace; Azerbaijan mainly exports fruits, juices, nuts, food and metal products to UAE. And the UAE mainly exports electronics, high technology products, building materials and industrial goods to Azerbaijan [1]. Additionally, polyethylene polymers, furniture, and car parts are also among the UAE exports to Azerbaijan.
The United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan has created the Intergovernmental Joint Economic Committee which aims to strengthen the economic cooperation between the two countries by enhancing trade and investment at the bilateral level of the relations and exploring new initiatives for bilateral investments and joint projects in the future.
The official visits and meetings between the two countries to open discussions on economic cooperation and building future cooperation in nine crucial sectors throughout these years: agriculture, renewable energy, tourism, the environment, irrigation, communications, modern technology and air transport. Most importantly, the UAE and Azerbaijan with great enthusiasm has worked on creation of the trade and investment opportunities at the bilateral level in order to enhance the cooperation among businesses of both of the countries.
It should be stressed that one of the most important meetings between the Governments was held in April 2017 within the framework of the sixth session of the UAE-Azerbaijan Joint Economic Committee. The meeting was very important as the most prominent project initiatives were highlighted and agreed upon. Among such kind of projects, we can recall the agreement between the DP World Company, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Port of Baku dated 2016. The document aimed to establish the Alyat Free Trade Zone in Azerbaijan. This cooperation is considered to be one of the most successful projects between the UAE and Azerbaijan.
Another milestone of the cooperation between the UAE and Azerbaijan is the opening of the first overseas office of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital of Azerbaijan. Thus, Baku directly supports the economic growth in both of the countries and at the same time strengthens the bilateral relations.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan continued to build business relations specifically with the cities of the UAE. One of the examples is the visit by the economic delegation from Azerbaijan to the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During the visit the sides discussed how to improve the bilateral cooperation for the benefit of both countries with specific local focus on Sharjah as a city in UAE.
All in all, if we observe the recent events, we can see that both countries are still working to strengthen the bilateral cooperation . In January 2019 Azerbaijan’s Trade House was opened in Dubai. The Trade House has the role of providing detailed information about Azerbaijan on various sectors. It is estimated that the opening of the Trade House will increase the exports of non-oil goods to UAE. The office will promote Azerbaijani goods and have the aim to increase the bilateral trade between UAE and Azerbaijan. The trade house is equipped with more than 600 goods and products from Azerbaijan. The numbers also confirm the great bilateral relations as the trade turnover have increased for 50.8% in 2018 in comparison with 2017.
Abdalla AlShamsi
Deputy Head of Mission of the United Arab Emirates in Baku
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