Ukraine pays serious attention to the extension of cooperation with the Gulf countries including UAE. In particular, this is witnessed by the fact that Mr. Al Mutaiwi was received by the First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. During their meeting the Ukrainian official voiced his opinion that the visit of the General Director of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry would help promoting Ukraine’s positive image among the representatives of business elite of UAE.

– The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is going to focus its efforts on the increase of the level of investment attractiveness for foreign investors, especially for those investing into the innovative production technologies. – said Ukraine ’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. – Since the new government began working in Ukraine, new prospects were open for cooperation between our countries.

Ukraine could offer foreign partners many directions for cooperation. Mykola Azarov told, in particular, about the unique technologies developed by Ukrainian scientists in the sphere of aircraft design. For instance, the designers have developed several unprecedented aircraft including AN-148. The process of designing AN-70 is nearing end, in 2008, serial production of this aircraft is going to begin. When this aircraft was designed, the designers knew about serious competition from leading European and American companies and therefore provided certain competitive strengths making this cargo aircraft better than all the foreign-made analogs. Moreover, according to expert opinions, no aircraft with similar characteristics is going to be made in any foreign country within the next 10 years. However, Ukraine needs investments to begin serial production of this aircraft. Additionally, Ukraine already has various modifications of technical purpose planes, e.g. forest firefighting aircrafts, etc. Also, Ukraine is a European leader in the field of building the motors for planes and helicopters. Full-cycle aircraft-building corporation has been established in Ukraine. Products made by this corporation comply with ISO 9000 and will be certified for export.

Cooperation between Ukraine and UAE in the field of aircraft building has good prospects given the fact that Dubai Emirate is building one of the world’s largest airports Jebel Ali. After its commissioning it is going to service 120 million passengers a year and process huge amounts of cargo. It is clear that the Emirate is going to expand its fleet of aircraft of different purposes, said the General Director of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry Al Mutaiwi.

In order to stimulate Ukraine – UAE trade relations, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov proposed holding an extended forum in UAE in November – December, 2006, in order to present Ukraine’s capabilities to potential investors from the Emirates. Mykola Azarov believes that working sections of the forum should reflect the most promising spheres of cooperation between Ukraine and UAE: 1) space and aircraft design; 2) sea ports and port economy; 3) modernization in order to build the capacities of Ukrainian cement plants or construct new cement plant in UAE and 4) telecommunications.

According to M. Azarov, Ukraine is interested in the increase and diversification of trade with UAE and has the intention of using the emirates with their super-modern transportation infrastructure as a point for promotion of Ukrainian goods on the markets of Gulf and African countries. Al Mutaiwi, at the same time, told about the successful experience of functioning of 16 free economic zones in UAE (with annual turnover exceeding 25 billion USD) and the “open economy” policy used in the Emirates.

General Director of Dubai Chamber of Commerce supported the proposal of Mykola Azarov with regard to bilateral economic forum in UAE and also said it would be logical to continue meetings between UAE and Ukraine businessmen, for example in Crimea, in May 2007, so that UAE investors could take a look at the recreational projects of the region since Emirates’ business elite is interested in such projects.

At the time of the meeting, the issue of beginning of the operation of two-party intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation was raised. The parties also discussed possibilities of establishing full-fledge Ukraine – UAE Business Council operations. At this time, only the Ukrainian part of the Council has been formed. Representatives of both parties have to sign the Council’s Charter and form its Emirate’s part. Council operations would allow the businessmen of both countries to have more active cooperation and ensure more prompt resolution of issues standing in the way of mutually fruitful economic cooperation.

During the negotiations, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said he was convinced that active cooperation between the government officials and businessmen of the two countries are going to drive the cooperation between the to countries in a new level complying with realities of the world economy.

At the conclusion of the meeting, General Director of Dubai Chamber of Commerce Al Mutaiwi handed to Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov the invitation on behalf of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai to visit the Emirates.

The meeting of the General Director of Dubai Chamber of Commerce with the Head of the State Property Fund Valentina Semenyuk was just as productive. State Property Fund continues the practice of open privatization and has submitted to the Parliament the list of facilities subject to privatization in the next year. This list includes not only state-owned but also community-owned facilities. Information on the facilities is public and the State Property Fund uses its best efforts to make the investors feel secure and protected in Ukraine, said Valentina Semenyuk.

According to Al Mutaiwi, first of all, Ukraine has very beneficial geographic and strategic location between Europe and Asia and this fact could be made quite useful: there are CIS countries on one side and Asian countries on the other side, and also Ukraine was one of the most developed republics even back at the Soviet time, therefore today it has good economic prospects. Since State Property Fund is supposed to used steps in order to attract foreign investors, Chamber of Commerce ad Industry of Dubai in turn is willing to assist Ukraine in getting investments, primarily, in the sphere of real estate, said Al Mutaiwi.

General Director of Dubai CCI told about the circumstances of the acquiring of British operator P&O by Dubai corporation DP World. Today, DP World operates sea ports in more than 20 countries of the world. Additionally, Al Mutaiwi informed that Emirates’ companies invest a lot of funds into countries like Morocco, Tunisia, etc. State Property Fund of Ukraine also could present different projects and Dubai CCI could present them for review by interested investors (recreation, construction). By the way, at this time, UAE is going through real construction boom – in parallel with construction of objects in Emirates, infrastructure is being developed as well. This experience could be useful for Ukraine.

After the 9/11 tragedy in the US, the market of air service was going down. At the time, management of Emirates Airlines decided to purchase aircraft for the total amount of 24 billion USD and this decision turned out to be very wise because after awhile the air-service market began to grow rapidly again. Today, Emirates Airlines is one of the world’s largest airlines. This is why Al Mutaiwi raised the issue of setting up regular flights between UAE and Ukraine during his visit.

Another direction of cooperation in the field of air service could be represented by the participation of Emirates’ companies in open privatization tenders of such Ukrainian companies as Odessaavia, Dnyproavia and Kharkivavia. Today, UAE investors could try to win the tender on operations management for Odessa and Illichivsk ports. According to Al Mutaiwi, this offer should be interesting for the worldwide known corporation DP World working in the field of ports management.

During the negotiations, Head of State Property Fund Valentina Semenyuk also informed that shares of JV Infocom are getting ready for sale. This company was founded in 1991 by Ukraine’s national telecom operator Ukrtelecom and German Controlware company.

Taking into account the interest of the both parties towards cooperation, Al Mutaiwi and Valantina Semenyuk agreed on continuous information exchange.

First meeting of Ukraine’s and UAE businessmen occurred in 1995m when the Delegation of Ukraine’s CCI visited UAE. During the visit, the parties signed agreements on cooperation between the CCIs of Ukraine and UAE Emirates of Dubai and Sharja. Visit of the President of CCI Federation of UAE, Mr. Said Al Suweidi in 2002 became an important contribution to the development of trade and economic relations between UAE and Ukraine.

The next step forward towards partnership relations was represented by the negotiations between the President of Ukraine’s CCI Sergey Skripchenko and General Director of UAE’s CCI Al Mutaiwi September 18. The meeting was friendly and productive: heads of CCIs of Ukraine and UAE discussed a number of vital issues. At the end of the negotiations, Al Mutaiwi indicated that despite the short term of the visit, the things they saw in Ukraine really impressed the UAE delegation, which included the Head of Dubai CCI Business, Commerce and Industry Development Department Sultan M. Luta.

Mr. Al Mutaiwi was satisfied with his meetings in Ukraine where he exchanged opinions on various aspects of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. In order to continue the negotiations, General Director of Dubai CCI Al Mutaiwi invited President of Ukraine’s CCI Sergey Skripchenko to visit Emirates and Dubai in particular at any time of his convenience.

During all the meetings in Ukraine, Al Mutaiwi underscored on numerous occasions that Dubai CCI has developed good and efficient relationships with Ukrainian Trade Center. Actually, Al Mutaiwi came to Kyiv upon the invitation sent to him by UTC and CCI of Ukraine. Therefore, it was quite logical that UTC employees and, in particular, Sergey Pachkovskiy, the General Director of UTC took care of the logistics of the Emirate delegation’s visit and supported them throughout their stay. Dubai CCI has the intention of organizing the cooperation with Ukrainian businesses through UTC, rather than trying to communicate with different companies on individual basis.

Ukrainian Trade Center in Dubai contributes seriously to the promotion of Ukrainian products on the rich market of UAE. The results of their efforts are obvious, primarily, through the annual increase of commodity turnover between the two countries. According to the official statistics, over the first six months of 2006, commodity turnover between Ukraine and UAE equaled 172.7 million US dollars, which is $3.5 million more than over the same period in 2005 ($169.2 million). Export equaled 163.4 million US dollars and import – 9.2 million US dollars.

However, trade and economic potential of Ukraine and UAE is not used fully yet. Until this time, the most popular products in UAE were ferrous metals and products made of such metals. They contributed to 80-90% of the entire Ukrainian export. According to the analysis of trade relationships over the past two years, other Ukrainian products are not that popular in UAE: machines and mechanisms – 5%, microchips – 2%, clay – 1.6%, instruments and appliances – roughly 2%. In the structure of import from UAE to Ukraine, agricultural products equal roughly 20%, 13.2% – wood and wood products, while other positions are insignificant.

Potential of Middle East market is very high. These countries are focused on import of all the necessary goods and services due to the practical absence of own production. To satisfy local needs, United Arab Emirates import $35-40 billion worth of products each year.

Ukrainian Trade Center, which has taken the responsibility for helping Ukrainian companies in entering the UAE market, has developed a good reputation in UAE and enjoys respect of Ukrainian exporters. UTC represents the interests of Ukraine’s CCI in UAE and cooperates closely with Ukrainian Embassy in UAE. UTC is contacted by Ukrainian companies willing to sell their products in UAE or get registered in the free economic zones of this country.

In addition to information support and legal assistance to Ukrainian businesses in UAE, Ukrainian Trade Center performs many actions and organizes events in order to expand trade and economic relationships between Ukraine and UAE. The next scheduled event will be the International Forum on Economic Cooperation between Ukraine and UAE. When General Director of UAE Chamber of Commerce and Industry Al Mutaiwi met with Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, the parties agreed to convene the said forum.

Another venue for top level negotiations with Ukrainian business elite will be the business forum “Leaders in Dubai 2006” scheduled for November 28-29, this year. Efficient management, branding and strategy will be the major topics to be discussed at the Dubai summit. For two days, the forum participants will have the opportunity to exchange nontrivial ideas that would help them manage world’s largest business projects. Nine presenters who are recognized contemporary leaders will report to the forum.

Organizers of business forum “Leaders in Dubai 2006” provide for top level representation. The delegations will include key figures creating today’s history, political world elite, well-known businessmen, major investors, economists and analysts. There are meetings planned with Queen Nour (Jordan), US Secretary of State Collin Powell, IBM President Louis Herstner, Walt Disney CEO Michael Icener, corporate strategy specialist professor S.K. Prakhalad and well-known economist Harry Dent.

Ukrainian delegates including the First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Anatoliy Zlenko (Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister in 1990 - 1994 and 2000 – 2003), Valeriy Pustovoytenko (Ukraine’s Prime Minister in 1997-1999) and other people have already confirmed their participation.

If you became interested in “Leaders in Dubai 2006” business forum and if you wish to participate in it, please contact Kyiv office of Ukrainian Trade Center for Gulf region. It is also possible to present your company and its products at the special exhibition stand of UTC that will be placed in the lobby right in front of the conference hall of Dubai International Congress Hall where “Leaders in Dubai 2006” will take place.

This article was prepared by the Advertising and PR Department of Ukrainian Trade Center for Gulf Countries.

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