Chairman of Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi (DED-Abu Dhabi) Ali Majid Al Mansouri, and Graham Quirk, Lord Mayor of Brisbane, the capital of the State of Queensland, Australia, have discussed ways of bolstering economic and investment relations between Abu Dhabi and Australia at a meeting in Abu Dhabi.
Representatives of government departments and semi-government economic bodies attended the meeting at DED-Abu Dhabi alongside the members of the Australian business delegation accompanying Lord Mayor Quirk.
In his opening remarks, Al Mansouri emphasised Abu Dhabi's interest in increasing trade with Australia noting that Australia's non-oil trade with U.A.E. in 2012 stood at more than US$2.4 billion of which Australia's exports to U.A.E. accounted for US$2.2 billion while U.A.E.'s non-oil exports to Australia accounted for US$256 million.
He also noted that the outstanding economic relations between the emirate of Abu Dhabi and Australia saw more than US$612 million in non-oil trade between them at the end of 2013.
Al Mansouri said that in 2009 Queensland was the first Australian state to open a representative trade office in Abu Dhabi.
He expressed his confidence that an economic cooperation agreement signed between Abu Dhabi and Queensland in September 2013 will result in a new stage in their partnership and strategic cooperation in a number of sectors such as food industry, transport, tourism, investment, education, ICT, and technology transfer.
On his part, Lord Mayor Quirk noted that he was looking for wider economic cooperation and relations between the two sides.
Mr. Quirk also noted that the his country's government is increasing investments in U.A.E. as several Australian companies are investing in World Expo 2020 which will be hosted in Dubai.