Off the wire
• Chinese Vice Premier calls for all out preparation for 2022 Games  • Interview: Russian Far East official expects more Chinese investment  • Major Japanese companies order staff to cancel trips to Brussels in wake of terror attacks  • Bangladesh Hindus celebrate Holi festival  • China Coal Energy Company sees huge loss in 2015  • China Life 2015 profit growth sharply slower  • Xinhua, UNEP to deepen cooperation on environment, sustainable development  • Turkish security forces detain a Japanese trying to join IS  • Commentary: Lancang-Mekong cooperation offers new opportunities  • Feature: Rising affluence in China-Vietnam border areas as fiscal policies boost livelihoods  
You are here: 　 Home

UAE ratifies WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Xinhua, March 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major oil supplier, on Wednesday became the first Arab country to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement, state news agency WAM reported.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement is "one of the most important agreements" within the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trading system, UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al-Mansouri said.

Al-Mansouri added that the agreement is in line with the UAE policy of facilitating cross-border trading through simplification of procedures at borders and administrative requirements, providing information and electronic procedures.

"This helps save time, reduce costs and improve customs and logistics standards," the minister said.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.

It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other authorities concerned on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues.

It also contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this field.

The UAE has been one of the strong supporters of the agreement and helped in the negotiations through collaboration with the Gulf and Arab countries and other members of the WTO.

Earlier in February, Al-Mansouri said that the value of the UAE's non-oil foreign trade reached 1.75 trillion dirham (476.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015, a growth of up to 10 percent from 2014.

Oil contributes less than 30 percent to the UAE economy and the UAE government aims to reduce this share to 19 percent within the next 10 years. Endit