UAE Economy Minister meets his Swiss counterpart, chief of International Trade Centre

Bali, Indonesia: The United Arab Emirates represented by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, yesterday had two separate meetings with Switzerland's Chief of Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Johann Schneider-Ammann, on the margins of the 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation, which started yesterday Tuesday in the Indonesian island of Bali. At the meeting, Al Mansouri underscored the need for the current WTO ministerial meeting to come up with a balanced agreement between developed countries and developing countries on the items on the agenda of the multi-lateral talks between the 159 members of WTO, as well as to draw a path for talks after Bali. The two sides also discussed the agenda of the current WTO ministerial meeting and ways of enhancing trade between the UAE and Switzerland in sectors such as banking, pharmaceutical industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Also yesterday, Minister Al Mansouri met Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) for trade and international business development. In her remarks at the meeting, Gonzalez described the UAE's winning of the bid to host EXPO 2020 as well-deserved. At the meeting, the two sides discussed cooperation between the UAE and the Geneva-based ITC, in areas such as promotion of investments and exports and the qualification of SMEs. The National Committee for the World Trade Organisation will hold its second meeting under the chairmanship of Al Mansouri at the office of the Ministry of Economy in Dubai tomorrow to prepare for the four-day international conference. Minister Al Mansouri is leading the UAE delegation to the WTO ministerial meeting in Bali. – Emirates News Agency, WAM