Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, has held a series of high-level meetings with senior officials, ministers, and business leaders during the World Governments Summit, in which he underlined the UAE’s commitment to trade and innovation as key drivers of long-term, sustainable growth.

The discussions centred on ways to deepen collaboration, accelerate the flow of goods and services, and direct investments into priority sectors such as energy, logistics, food security and advanced technology.

In his meetings with Liza Araneta-Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines, and Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of Laos, Al Zeyoudi restated the increasing importance of the ASEAN region to the UAE, and the willingness to cement ties to a region with well-developed manufacturing and food-production sectors. With Manoa Seru Nakausabaria Kamikamica, Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, the talks revolved around logistics, the fishing industry and the importance of moving forward with climate-mitigation policies.

Improving connections to Latin America was the subject of the conversations with Gabriela García, Minister of Economy of Guatemala and Félix Ulloa, Vice President of El Salvador, while trade and investment with the key industrial state of Michigan, USA was the focus of the discussions with Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

He also held talks with Erkki Keldo, Minister of Economy and Industry of Estonia, and Ismaël M’Fala Nabé, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation of Guinea.

The World Government Summit also provided the opportunity to review several of the UAE’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements. Dr. Thani was able to meet Bùi Thanh Sơn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, with which the UAE signed a CEPA with in October 2024, and Luis Carlos Reyes Hernández, Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia, a CEPA partner since April 2024.

Al Zeyoudi said the meetings serve to strengthen the UAE’s position as an important partner for economic development across the world. "The UAE has a long-standing belief that foreign trade and investment are the key to sustainable economic development, industrial productivity and innovation. My meetings with ministers this week have highlighted that nations across the world are not only keen to expand their trade networks but make trade simpler, faster and more efficient.

Our CEPA programme is establishing corridors of growth between Asia, Africa and the Americas, and many countries are expressing their interest in deepening their collaboration with us. I look forward to continuing these conversations to ensure a prosperous and equitable future for all.”

The transformative power of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, and sustainability-driven technologies was also a major theme at this year’s World Governments Summit.

With Roberto Viola, Director-General of the European Commission’s CONNECT project, Al Zeyoudi outlined the UAE’s efforts to harness advanced technology to improve industrial efficiency and innovation - and to establish the appropriate regulatory frameworks to facilitate it.

He also underlined the UAE’s role as a champion of innovation with key industry pioneers such as Shilpan Amin of GM International, Akash Palkhiwala of Qualcomm, Arvind Krishna of IBM, and Jean-Pascal Tricoire of Schneider Electric. Al Zeyoudi welcomed their contribution to the UAE’s dynamic business ecosystem and invited them to deepen their regional footprint.