The 19th edition of the Arab-German Business Forum opened on Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Berlin, attended by leading decision makers, senior government officials and business people coming from Arab countries and the Federal Republic of Germany.

The UAE delegation attending the event is headed by His Excellency Engineer Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy andaccompanied by H.E. Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary for Trade and Industry of the Ministry of Economy. Signing up with the delegation are agents from the private sector and federal and local UAE federal government entities.

The online forum is aimed to examining the status and performance of priority economic sectors included in the agenda of the Arab-German cooperation, especially throughout vital sectors like logistics, transportation and financial services. Individuals are likewise anticipated to share and exchange their experiences in commercial change, advanced commercial innovation, the best ways to effectively promote industrial advancement efforts, the function of free zones in support of this sector in addition to examining methods of cooperation in massive facilities, housing projects and small and medium business projects.

In his opening speech at the forum, Minister Al Mansouri shared that the financial ties between Arab countries and Germany is historic and supported by the strong industrial capacity of both sides, in addition to the acquiring power wielded by the Arab markets. He included that these relations have seen amazing development due to their mutual desire to enhance cooperative structures and drive in a smooth exchange of knowledge and experience.

H.E. also mentioned that the UAE is considered as Germany's largest partner in the Arab region. Germany, in turn, is the 6th largest business partner of the UAE.

He continued stating that the size of the trading and financial relations in between the two countries is facing constant development-- in which the value of non-oil business trading in between the two nations reached AED 15.5 billion in 2015 with three per cent growth as compared to the previous year. The UAE Minister also noted that these numbers are forecasted to enhance following the UAE's vision of transforming to a knowledge-based economy in which innovation is considered as one of its main pillars in economic advancement-- backed by the globally understood fantastic commercial and technological abilities of the Germans.

H.E Al Mansouri generated that the German-Arab Business Forum acts as a strategic platform to discuss and offer business owners the opportunity to interact with German investors and decision makers in order to explore and exchange financial investment opportunities and partnerships across different development projects for the future.

H.E. Dr. Peter Ramsauer, President, Gorfa Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "The German-Arab business relations over the past 10 years have actually seen considerable developments and growth in financial investment and trade. In fact, bilateral trade volume has been doubled to reach EUR 52.1 billion in 2015 with German exports increasing by 14 percent between 2014 and 2015."

Dr. Ramsauer anticipated that the continuing boost of Arab financial investments in Germany provides a positive outlook on the financial relations of both parties. He noted that UAE, the partner nation and important invitee of this year's event, had actually made considerable progress in diversifying its economy, which includes numerous chances for German companies to strengthen its presence in the UAE and Arab markets in general.

H.E. Nael Kabariti, President, General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture for Arab Countries said in his opening speech that the Arab-German cooperation will witness broad advancement opportunities in the coming period throughout both the industrial and industrial sectors-- stressing on the value of the topics to be discussed at the forum, which are important in the move to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

He likewise lauded the move to make the UAE as this year's guest of honor, explaining that the nation has attained significant progress in diversifying its economy and has continuously kept innovative development rates. Kabariti also applauded the country's strategic vision to move its economy to being a sustainable knowledge-based government by 2021.