Sharjah24: The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has wrapped up two days of fantastic participation in the 11th Arab-Hellenic Economic Forum, which was organised by the Arab-Hellenic Chamber in cooperation with the Union of Arab Chambers in Athens on October 25-26.

The chamber’s delegation, led by His Excellency Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of the SCCI, also took part in the fourth "Meet the Arab Ambassadors" Roundtable Discussion, which was held on the sidelines of the forum.

In his capacity as Vice President of the UAE Chambers, Al Owais delivered a speech in the forum, shedding light on the Gulf-Greek relations, which are remarkably growing and prospering in all fields and serve the two parties' common interests, as well as economic, commercial, and investment cooperation.

Al Owais spoke highly of the strong Emirati-Greek relations and the growing economic partnerships in many areas. “The 11th Arab-Hellenic Economic Forum provides us with a great opportunity to promote the already strong and thriving firm relations between the UAE and Greece, which resulted in the development of a promising and diversified economic partnership thanks to the wise leadership of the two friendly countries.”

Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade exchange between the UAE and Greece over the past two years increased significantly by 17%, and the value of non-oil trade in 2021 alone amounted to about AED 2.1 billion, Al Owais said.

"By the end of 2019, Greece's investments in the UAE amounted to over AED 341 million, 50% of which were in the real estate sector, 23% in transportation and storage, 20% in building and construction, and .04% in information and telecom.

According to the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre's data, the total direct joint investments between the UAE and Greece by the end of 2020 amounted to about AED 1.4 billion, with over AED 931 million of which were Emirati investments in Greece, while AED 468 million of which were foreign direct investments from Greece in the UAE.  When compared to around AED 217 million in 2011, the entire amount of foreign direct investment coming from Greece to the UAE have significantly grown by 116% by the end of 2020, reaching AED 468 million, Al Owais added.

He noted that Greek investments in the UAE have covered six sectors, including real estate, transportation and storage, building and construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, in addition to other activities. "Exports from Greece to the UAE totaled $266 million in 2020, an increase of 7.8% annually, while exports from the UAE to Greece amounted to $95.2 million, an annual growth of 13.3%."

Al Owais went on to say: "The economic relations between the UAE and Greece have taken a considerable step forward in the past few years, with a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding inked by various authorities in the two countries. These MoUs and agreements covered different areas, from investment to renewable energy, health, industry, sophisticated technology, and other crucial sectors of significance to both nations.

These include an MoU between the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Greece's Ministry of Development and Investments in the field of advanced industries and technologies and another MoU between the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and the Greek Ministry of Development and Investments in the field of standardization. This is in addition to an MoU on mutual economic cooperation, an MoU between the ministries of health in the two countries and another MoU between the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change and the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy.

Both countries have also signed a strategic framework agreement between Motor Oil and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to explore opportunities for supplying LNG cargoes to Greece, as well as exploring other cooperation opportunities between the two countries. This is in addition to an MoU between Masdar Clean Energy and the Greek government on eco-islands, an MoU between Masdar and Motor Oil to cooperate on decarbonizing the electricity market in Greece; an MoU on extending the partnership between Mubadala and the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI) to invest €400 million in several sectors; and an MoU to establish a €4-billion joint investment fund to invest in Greece across various sectors. Masdar and KYOTO also inked an MoU to establish a Joint Venture (J.V.) to develop renewable energy projects in Greece.

"These figures highlight the fact that there are great prospects for a mutual comprehensive development," Al Owais said, adding that the forum will pave the way for achieving economic integration between both sides by taking advantage of both countries’ economic plans and introducing their private sectors to these plans in order to boost cooperation, partnership, and mutual investments.

Al Owais expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Arab-Hellenic Chamber, the Union of Arab Chambers and all organizers for their tremendous efforts to stage such an outstanding event, which covered many topics and issues of mutual concern to both Arab and Greek businessmen.