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Bilateral ties, Armenia’s participation at Dubai Expo 2020, Masdar City: UAE Ambassador’s interview to ARMENPRESS

armenpress.am03/29th/2019, 6:18

Bilateral ties, Armenia’s participation at Dubai Expo 2020, Masdar City: UAE Ambassador’s interview to ARMENPRESS

New Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Armenia Mohamed AlZaabi says he feels very good by seeing the warm hospitality and smiles of Armenians.

The UAE Ambassador gave an interview to ARMENPRESS, talking about the current level of the relations between Armenia and UAE, the vision on their future, as well as new cooperation directions.

-Mr. Ambassador, how would you assess the current level of the Armenia-UAE relations?

-The United Arab Emirates has very good relations with different countries of the world. The bilateral relations of the UAE and Armenia are unique and we witness their development in recent years. A lot of works have been carried out after the opening of the UAE Embassy in Armenia in 2015, a number of agreements have been signed, and I think that the first session of the inter-governmental commission will take place in May in Armenia which proves the constant cooperation between the businessmen of the two states. This session will provide an opportunity of contacts between the Armenian and UAE businessmen, as well as special meetings are possible with different representatives of the government. Armenia’s foreign ministry attaches special attention to strengthening the cooperation between the two countries in different areas. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian’s visit to the UAE and his participation to the Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi this year in January were successful and gave a great impetus to intensifying the ties in different fields. The visit of Armenian defense minister Davit Tonoyan to the UAE and participation to the IDEX 2019 international defense exhibition, as well as the wonderful performance of the Armenian Guards of Honor, which was a message to the whole world, are worth mentioning.

I am here for already one and half a month and everywhere noticed hospitality, smiles by the people, which come from your grandfathers, and I feel very good here.

-What are the recent economic developments trends? What can you say about the trade turnover figures between the two states?

-After the opening of the UAE Embassy in Armenia, activeness is noticed in different areas, in particular in the economy. The trade turnover figures prove this: if before the opening of the Embassy in 2014 the trade turnover between the two states was just 80 million USD, in 2017 it reached 250 million and in 2018 – nearly 180 million. I think the trade turnover figures will grow in 2019 as well.

In the past four years the cooperation of the two countries focused on opening new prospects in different areas. For example, the fields of investments, economy, artificial intelligence, new energy are worth noting. I know that Armenia is famous in the field of information technologies, medicine where cooperation is also possible. I think after the first session of the inter-governmental commission our relations will further develop in various sectors.

-In previous years growth in the tourist visits from the UAE to Armenia has been recorded. In your opinion, what factors contributed to this, and what cooperation prospects do you see in this field in the future?

-The direct air communication between the two countries enables to develop the tourism sector. During my meetings with the tour agencies I understood that there is a great interest, and Armenians visit the UAE very frequently. According to the official data of 2018 nearly 11.500 UAE citizens visited Armenia.

-There were some talks on the UAE’s active participation in several areas in Armenia, mainly the hotel construction works. What preconditions do you see on this direction. Are investment programs from the UAE to Armenia possible in the future?

-There is a cooperation opportunity in different areas, including in this sector. Armenia has quite good hotels, and I think that the tour companies play a great role here for attracting foreign tourists.

-Mr. Ambassador, Dubai Expo will be held in the UAE in 2020. At what stage are the preparation works? What will be the main focus of this event? How is going to be Armenia’s participation format to the event?

-Dubai Expo 2020 is a large-scale international event which will strengthen Dubai’s position as a global center by involving the economic opportunities.

We welcome Armenia’s participation to this key event. Armenia is among the first countries that confirmed participation to this international exhibition which will provide a great space for the display of clean energy by using the latest technology, as well as importing the artificial intelligence to this field. More than 200 participants, including 190 countries, have confirmed their participation to the event where the international community will meet in Dubai for the sake of innovation and human progress. We expect to have 25 million visitors which is a very big number. Major preparation works are being carried out in these six months. New metro stations to the Expo’s square are being constructed, and the 70-80% of the Road 2020 project’s overall works is already over. It was planned that the station of the Expo 2020 was going to look like a wings of plane, symbolizing innovation and progress. People sometimes think that this is just for trade, but this is for generations aimed at transferring the modern technology. The UAE is ready to host the Expo visitors, and I think that ARMENPRESS will be included in this event as the first news agency.

-The United Arab Emirates has declared 2019 as a year for tolerance. What are the expectations from this initiative and what is its main message?

-This initiative aims at strengthening the UAE’s status as a world center through several major initiatives and projects for tolerance, including the research investments, social and cultural research on tolerance, and dialogue of cultures and civilizations. It aims at presenting a legislation and policy directed to the institutionalization of cultural, religious and social tolerance values and eventually contributing to spreading tolerance through media outlets. The main message of the initiative is to spread tolerance values across the world.

-The Special Olympic Games 2019 were held in Abu Dhabi, athletes with intellectual disabilities from different countries of the world are taking part. To what extent this event will contribute to increasing attention and support level to these people in the region?

-Abu Dhabi hosted the Special Olympic Games from March 14 to 21 this year. It was the biggest event of the disabled athletes throughout the world. The number of participants was reaching 7500. The holding and organization of the Special Olympic Games coincides with the UAE’s 2021 vision which a...

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