Ministry of Economy and Abu Dhabi DED Organize East African Buyers Forum

Abu Dhabi-UAE: 8 October, 2014 – The Ministry of Economy, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, organized an East African Buyers Forum in Abu Dhabi. The forum convened 36 companies from East Africa and 80 local exporters from Abu Dhabi across different sectors including construction, oil and gas, food and pharmaceutical industries. 

Dr Adeeb Al Afifi, Director, Foreign Trade & ‎Export Support at the Department of Economic Development-Abu Dhabi (DED), welcomed the East African delegates and Abu Dhabi exporters to the forum and expressed the UAE’s keenness in promoting bilateral trade and economic relations between the UAE and East African countries.

Mohammed Nasser Hamdan Al Zaabi, Director of Trade Promotion, Ministry of Economy said: “The Ministry of Economy has collaborated with Abu Dhabi DED to organize several events in the last few years that have witnessed new synergies between East African companies and enterprises in the UAE. Such networking events allow the UAE’s manufacturers and exporters to network and collaborate with high profile importers from East Africa to promote their businesses, that will in turn help increase the country’s aggregate exports and augment bilateral trade.” 

East Africa includes 18 African Non-Arab countries. Non-oil trade between the UAE and East Africa was estimated at US$ 6,336 million in 2013, excluding free zone trade that registered US$ 2,977 million. Tanzania is the largest trade partner for the UAE in the East African bloc with total trade valued at US$ 2.23 billion.

Kenya is in second place with a total trade value of US$1.449 billion followed by Ethiopia and Rwanda with US$497.2 million and US$54.9 million respectively.