UAE and Russia highlight new horizons of trade, investment

Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, virtually met Anton Siluanov, Russia’s Minister of Finance on Wednesday to discuss new avenues of cooperation in various economic fields between the two countries. the meeting was part of of the UAE Ministry of Finance’s endeavour to deepen financial and economic cooperation ties with various countries of the world.

The meeting discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between both countries in various financial, trade and investment fields. Also discussed during the meeting was the UAE’s participation in the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI).

Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Under Secretary of Resource and Budget Sector; Alexey Moiseev, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister; and Timur Maksimov, Russian Deputy Minister of Finance for International Relations and Foreign Markets attended the meeting.

Al Tayer praised the strong bilateral relations between the UAE and Russia, and stressed the need to continue dialogue between the two friendly countries to consolidate constructive cooperation frameworks and open new horizons for joint action in various economic, financial and trade fields.

Al Tayer said, “The Ministry of Finance is keen to bolster strategic partnership between the UAE and Russia, by continuing dialogue and joint coordination in various fields of common interest, in order to create new areas of cooperation that contribute to promoting economic growth between the two countries.”

He thanked Russia for its cooperation and support with regards to the UAE’s continued participation in the G20 GPFI programme in the coming years, as a member outside the G20. He noted that the UAE’s priority for participating in the GPFI is addressing the barriers to financial inclusion through technologies, and implementing the cross-border payment plan, which includes remittances.

With regards to cooperation and partnership in trade and investment fields, both ministers discussed ways of facilitating Russian tourism and businesses in the UAE. Also discussed during the meeting was the UAE’s completion of the process of reviewing the draft legislation to regulate the issuance and offering of crypto-assets - which was led by the UAE’s financial market regulator, the Securities and Commodities Authority. This legislation aims to ensure fair, transparent and objective rules to facilitate or engage in crypto-assets transactions. It also provides price discovery and transparency of orders and trades, therefore bringing an increasing number of transactions, including trading volume and turnover.”

The UAE has formed a dedicated Fintech team to facilitate the implementation of financial technology initiatives, including Initial Coin Offerings. The team will be responsible for all issuers of digital tokens; intermediaries facilitating or advising on an offer of digital tokens; and the platforms aimed at facilitating trading in digital tokens.

FinTech is becoming an area of greater importance to the UAE, considering its significant role in the UAE market. In 2019, two UAE startups raised almost $210.5 million in token sales, accounting for almost a 25% of the total funds raised globally. The UAE has also developed a White Paper on Stablecoins, which sheds light on the importance of (1) Developing an agreed-on definition for Stablecoins; and (2) The design principles for a successful monitoring framework for Stablecoins implementation.

Non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia grew by 8% during 2019, reaching $3.7 billion.