During the 5th Joint Italy-United Arab Emirates Commission a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Italian National Accreditation Body (Accredia) and the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) on cooperation on the accreditation of halal certification bodies. The Memorandum was signed on 20 October 2015.
The agreement is the first of its kind singed by ESMA with a counterparty in an EU country. The Farnesina and our Embassy in Abu Dhabi both supported the process, including by putting ESMA in contact with Accredia. The agreement will help reduce the technical barriers to commerce and facilitate trade between Italy and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Certification of products that comply with the Emirates’ standards will make it possible for Italian products to be exported there more easily.
Trade between Italy and the UAE amounted to 5.9 billion euro in 2014, with exports from Italy of 5.3 billion and imports of 628 billion. This produced a trade balance clearly in Italy’s favour, with a surplus of 4.7 billion euro.
