The US-UAE Business Council president sees “tremendous potential” for further growth, according to an interview with the state-run news agency WAM.
With $16.7 billion (AED61.3 billion) worth of exports last year, the US-UAE Business Council said it was poised to further enhance ties between the US and the UAE. The sectors of healthcare, energy sustainability, space, advanced manufacturing and the digital economy have all been identified.
“There is tremendous potential for the further growth of the bilateral relationship,” Council president Danny Sebright told WAM. The economic relationship is now marked by more than $22 billion in bilateral trade as well as large flows of foreign direct investment in both directions, he added.
“The UAE has been the single-largest export market for the US in the MENA region since 2009, with $16.7 billion worth of exports in 2021,” according to Sebright, who was in Abu Dhabi for the Global Aerospace Summit.
“One of the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds, Mubadala Investment Company, has invested over $100 billion in the United States. Other UAE sovereign wealth funds also have invested heavily in the US over the last 20 years.
“In turn, more than 1,500 US companies do business in the UAE, selling goods and services and helping to create high-paying jobs at home in the US,” he added.
On climate change and sustainability, the US-UAE Business Council established a Climate Change Task Force in early 2021, following the appointment of Dr. Sultan Al Jaber as UAE Special Envoy for Climate.
“The Council plans to redouble our focus on climate change and sustainability over the next 18 months as the UAE prepares to host the COP 28 Conference in November 2023.
“The Business Council looks forward to mobilising the business community in every way to move forward with this engagement.”
The UAE has announced the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, a national drive to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, with an investment of over AED600 billion in renewable energy.
For the economy, this net-zero commitment is an opportunity to create economic value through the creation of a green economy, particularly around hydrogen.
“There is a big role for US companies to play in this regard,” Sebright said, adding that US companies can best support climate initiatives by creating “new technologies to help the UAE decarbonise”.
Regarding the UAE’s response to COVID-19 pandemic, Sebright said that this had been “nothing short of exemplary”.
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