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The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) launches the third edition of its annual campaign in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region to promote the bilateral trade, investment and cultural ties that exists between Australia and the GCC. The program’s activities will extend to UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Australia already boasts AUD 12bn trade with the GCC, which is comparable to India, and the Gulf Cooperation Council states are its 13th largest trading partner. The United Arab Emirates accounts for 50% of the trade.
For the second consecutive year, the Australian Minister for Trade and Investment, The Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP, is visiting the region to participate in the Australia Unlimited MENA program and meet with senior Ministers in the in the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to continue to seek support for relaunching negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
AU MENA has adopted an overarching theme of innovation for the 2015 event, because Australia’s innovative approach and expertise meets the region’s future needs in areas of sustainability, economic diversification, and human capital. There are three core strands to AU MENA 2015, including the ministerial mission, which has bilateral trade, sovereign wealth funds and furthering the FTA discussions on the agenda; the CEO mission, which will include 16 senior executives from Australia’s leading business organizations and universities accompanying the minister and the trade missions, which are focusing on sustainable urban development, education and vocational training, and healthcare.
Australia’s exports to the GCC are growing substantially, up by 12% year-on-year, with food exports increasing up to 36% to AUD 169m. Australia, well-known for gastronomy, hosted a cook-off between the UAE’s best culinary students and Choithrams supermarket is holding a two week ‘Australian Goodness Festival,’ starting April 12. In the UAE, the service trade is also an increasingly important component of the commercial relationship, including construction, financial, professional services, health, tourism and education.
AU MENA 2015 is proud to also be partnering with the Dubai Land Department, and will be bringing together senior government officials, leaders from industry and academia to discuss sustainability solutions for smart cities. The additional core focus subjects will be education and vocational training in primary care and healthcare, due to their innovative and world-class educational and medical facilities. Australia and the UAE signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Higher Education and Vocation Training a year ago, so Australia is now actively promoting increased institutional collaborations and encouraging more Emiratis to study in Australia
AU MENA has proved a success in familarising Australian firms with the local market conditions and introducing them to local partners; within the last six months, 150 companies participated in Gulfood, 35 in Arab Health and 25 in MENA Mining reinforcing their interest in the market. Australia’s commercial profile in the UAE is already significant, with over 360 Australian companies based in country. The Australian expatriate community in the UAE is the 11th largest overseas, numbering 16,000 people. Meanwhile, UAE visitors to Australia increased by over 20% year-on-year with 37,050 UAE visitors by end of 2014.
Australia Unlimited MENA 2015 is supported by strategic partner - Dubai Land Department, platinum sponsors - Qantas and Government of Victoria, and gold sponsors - Navitas, Dubai Airport Freezone, and One & Only Resorts.
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