Recent estimates by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), a regional organisation designed on the model of the IMF, affiliated with the Arab League and headquartered in Cairo, confirm the top position earned by the United Arab Emirates in 2010 as the top Arab world market also for 2011.
As regards Italy, the Emirates are the main destination for our imports to the Arab world. According to ISTAT data for January-November 2011, our exports to the UAE showed an increase of 27.6% as compared with the same period in the previous year, for a full €4.2 billion, with imports increasing 88.4% to €805.7 million.
This hefty growth in bilateral trade, strengthened by maintenance of a trade balance clearly in Italy’s favour (normalized at 68%), is a decided inversion of the trends observed in 2009-2010, when the Emirates financial crisis led to a substantial reduction in trade.
There was significant growth in almost all our typical sectors of export to the Emirates, with over €667 million in general machinery (+164.7%), over €615 million in jewellery and precious cut stones (-4.7%), €421 million in petroleum products (+69.9%) and approximately €418 million in special machinery (+17.2%).
Our main imports include over €288 million in petroleum products (+312.3%) and €204 million in precious metals and other non-ferrous metals (+126.5%). Italy maintains its place as 7th among the world’s suppliers to the UAE, with a quota of 3.2% of the total Emirates imports, and remains third in Europe.
The trend is also positive for orders and contracts awarded to Italian firms in the Emirates. Some outstanding recent examples include the launch of the Impregilo Corporation’s project for an hydraulic canal in Abu Dhabi (valued at $300 million), completion of two contracts by the Italian firm Prysmian for the supply of power cables, instruments and fibre optics for sulfur mining and processing at the Shab Arab Field, and of cables for a crude oil pumping and transport station (overall value €60 million), as well as the signing of a contract between Techint and GASCO (Abu Dhabi’s public gas company) for the creation of a sulfur processing, storage and transport system (valued at $613 million).On 24 October 2011 the Saipem Maire Tecnimont consortium was awarded a major contract for an initial 226 km tract of the national railway (Shah-Habshan-Ruwais) in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, for a freight line between the sulfur deposits and the gas and oil fields.
Further testimony to the healthy revival of bilateral trade relations can be seen in the broad participation by Italian firms in the most important trade fairs in the Emirates over the last half year and, in the context of the internationalization of our businesses, there have been many cases of firms opening up offices or regional affiliates in the Emirates.
