MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UAE Minister has busy day in Buenos Aires

Minister Reem Al Hashimy met first with Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and then with Vice President CFK

Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero Monday welcomed United Arab Emirates Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy to deepen bilateral ties and open new exchange channels between both countries, it was reported by the Palacio San Martín.

 Cafiero and Reem Al Hashimy presided over the opening ceremony of the “Argentina-United Arab Emirates Business Meeting” with the participation of Emirati companies and sovereign wealth funds and their Argentine counterparts, which held about 45 business meetings.

“On the occasion of the Expo Dubai 2020 and the celebration of the 2nd Joint Commission Meeting, in 2022 I met with the Minister in the UAE and since then we set in motion a series of cooperation and exchange instruments, and we made progress in an agenda that has a commercial chapter but also an education chapter, technical cooperation, scientific and technological cooperation, and all this adds to the commercial relationship but also to the ties between two nations,” Cafiero said.

“With our work teams we designed a roadmap that was presented in April this year and this business forum is part of it; here there are companies from both countries with common visions. Argentina has great potential, and the businessmen and women present here represent two central axes in this troubled world: the need for food and energy. It is a global challenge of the present and the future and seeking strategic partners is fundamental in this meeting because we know that we have a lot to do,” he added.

“We have high expectations to follow up on the talks we had in the framework of the Dubai Expo 2020, which opened many doors, and I give credit to you and your team for the bilateral exchange we have. We are good for each other and we need to take more steps to consolidate this relationship,” Minister Reem Al Hashimy pointed out.

After the business event, Cafiero and Reem Al Hashimy held a bilateral meeting where they agreed to work together in international economic and financial forums for a fairer and more balanced system that takes into account the interests of developing countries. They referred to the celebration in Dubai of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, chaired by the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina's adhesion to the “Aim for Climate” initiative promoted by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

In bilateral matters, it was agreed to explore new mechanisms to take advantage of the complementarity of both economies, create new opportunities to increase trade and investment and stimulate the exchange of knowledge and innovation. Thus, both Ministers valued the growth of bilateral trade, which reached US$ 1.8045 billion in 2022, and highlighted that there is still a high potential to expand traditional means of trade and diversify exports in both directions.

Both Ministers also signed two bilateral agreements: the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for the Promotion of Trade, Investment, and Technology Exchange in Food Safety; and the Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation.

Later Monday, Minister Reem Al Hashimy was welcomed by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) at her Senate office. “We met in 2013 when she received me in the framework of my official visit to that country and today we met again,” said the vice president on Twitter.