Sharjah’s US visit strengthens ties

A high-level delegation from Sharjah represented mainly by the emirate’s economic and academic sectors, in its week-long visit to many US cities explored bilateral trade and investment relationships with 16 American entities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Durham, North Carolina.

This Sharjah-US Trade & Investment Mission was the emirate’s latest step to buttress its economic diversification efforts by bringing in top global expertise into the emirate’s fast-growing non-oil sectors.

The Sharjah delegation comprised Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, Executive Chairman of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq); Hussain Mohamed Al Mahmoudi, CEO of Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation (SRTI) Park; Mohammed Juma Al Musharrkh, CEO of Invest in Sharjah; Dr. Amina Mohammed Almarzouqi, Acting Dean of the Health Sciences College at the University of Sharjah (UoS); and Marwan Alichla Head of Investment Promotions at Invest in Sharjah.    

They were in robust meetings with 25 government officials, including Pittsburgh’s Mayor, William Peduto, and a wide variety of companies ranging from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups and SMEs ripe for international expansion. The Sharjah delegation also met academics and non-profit organisations in both cities.

The entities they met belonged to these ten sectors: education, biotechnology, network technology, research and development, healthcare, textile engineering, investment services, start-ups and study & analytics.

Marwan noted that the visit builds on the longstanding cooperation between Shurooq and major US entities, saying this mission has furthered Sharjah’s key developmental interests in vital sectors like education, healthcare, environment, technology, startups and SMEs, which drive diversification and sustainability.