The UAE’s adoption of pro-business policies and elimination of obstacles to trade stems from its keen desire to establish an open market and promote economic diversification, free zones and 100 per cent foreign ownership in some areas, the country’s minister of foreign trade said.
Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, speaking at a meeting in Moscow to promote investments in the UAE and Russia, said opportunities existed in fields including industrial, tourism and renewable energy.
She revealed that the UAE’s GDP rose by 13.9 per cent to reach $801 billion in 2008 and was expected to grow sufficiently enough this year to support national development goals. She also pointed out that the federal budget for 2009 increased by 24 per cent over last year.
“Non-oil sectors contributed Dh457 billion ($124.4 billion) to the 2008 GDP, an increase of 8.4 per cent over 2007. The real estate sector in particular has been performing creditably as it influenced 30 per cent of national income over the past few years and would remain a major source of business,” she added.
Several UAE businessmen and representatives of UAE business chambers were present.
Russian businessmen revealed at the meeting that their country had attracted foreign investments worth over $60 billion in 2008 with the largest investors coming from the UK and the US. They also said that 50 per cent of cars manufactured in Russia were made by foreign companies.
The UAE minister also participated at the Second Global Investment and Finance Forum held at the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow. Present were a number of economic and financial officials from Russia and around the world, including Alexey Kudrin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Referring to the global financial crisis, she said there should be “serious, fast and actual movements toward a maximum degree of cooperation at the global level in order to control the financial crisis and its implications,” according to a UAE government statement. 
She also called for more research to be done to reveal opportunities offered by the crisis. The minister highlighted that the UAE government had guaranteed bank deposits and offered financial facilities to banks amounting to $32 billion to boost confidence in the economy.
Sheikha Lubna noted that Russia offered numerous investment opportunities as it sought to develop its infrastructure and had allocated an estimated $200 billion for road projects and infrastructure.
She explained that the value of the UAE private sector’s investments in Russia amounted to around $3.5 billion, while Russian investments in the UAE were around $4 billion. The UAE’s main exports to Russia were aluminum and petrochemical products and processed food, while its imports comprised timber, building materials, and some petrochemical products.