The UAE and United States on Tuesday started three-day negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which has the potential to lead for a robust growth in the areas of trade, investments and bilateral economic cooperation.
The two nations have great expectations from the FTA, which will not only increase the volume of bilateral trade but will also help strengthen the trade relations by expanding to areas, which in the past did not report any business activity.
According to Khaleej Times, 15 teams of negotiators from both sides commenced their discussions to sort out the technical as well legal issues, which will streamline the growth.
The negotiations are centered on issues including entry into the capital and commodities market; customs, rules of country of origin and customs administration; services; banking, insurance; e-commerce and communications; textiles, government purchases; investments; intellectual property rights; labour; environment; and technical barriers to trade.
In his opening remarks, Dr Mohamed Khalfan bin Khirbash, the UAE's Minister for Finance and Industrial Affairs (MoFI) said that his country has adopted an open economic policy, as the visionary leadership took a right decision to cooperate and share with others to achieve prosperity and success across all sectors.
"Today, the UAE is reaping the fruits of those economic policies...our country is prosperous. It has become one of the most important regional and international economic and financial hubs," he said.
"The UAE is enthusiastic for the first round of talks, as it forms the basis of a special partnership between the two countries," he said. This is a new and vital phase in strengthening economic ties and also offers an opportunity for the UAE to become an essential part of the international economy.
"We look at new economic partnership as an opportunity to reap many economic benefits for the whole region both in the medium and long term," he said.
The FTA will be a platform for the US firms to building a strong business relationship with their counterparts in the UAE.
The US side said that the move would not affect the integrity of the GCC bloc. Assistant US Trade Representative Catherine A. Novelli, head of the US delegation, told newsmen after the inaugural session of the negotiations that FTAs with Bahrain and now UAE was a precursor for a broader GCC-based agreement and also with countries in the Middle East as a whole.
