The UAE’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements with India, Israel and Indonesia are expected to expand the country’s economy by 2.6 per cent by 2030, according to Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade.
The UAE and Indonesia, the biggest South-East Asian economy, signed the CEPA last week to boost bilateral trade between the two nations. The Emirates also signed a similar deal with Israel and India in May and February, respectively.
The agreements have “opened large markets to achieve national economy's growth, with preliminary figures pointing out that the first CEPA with India is expected to achieve a 1.7 per cent growth in the national economy by 2030, while the CEPA with Indonesia is expected to achieve a 0.87 per cent increase”, Dr Al Zeyoudi told the state news agency Wam.
He did not say to what extent the Israel deal would boost the UAE’s gross domestic product growth by 2030.
“After the signing of the CEPA with Indonesia, we now have access to a large market with 1.7 billion people, including 1.4 billion people in India and 280 million in Indonesia, in addition to nearly 10 million people in Israel,” Dr Al Zeyoudi said.
Bilateral non-oil trade between the UAE and Indonesia is expected to jump to $10 billion in the next five years from $3bn currently while India’s deal is expected to boost non-oil trade between the two countries to $100bn in five years, from $60bn currently. The trade and investment pact with Israel is expected to push the value of non-oil bilateral trade to more than $10bn within five years.
Dr Al Zeyoudi said the UAE will sign its fourth CEPA with Colombia this month and is negotiating with Turkey on a similar deal as it looks to strengthen trade partnerships with different countries.
“We have started the CEPA signing negotiation process with several African and East Asian countries and Georgia. The country is also co-ordinating with Chile in this regard,” he said.
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Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
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