Economic ties deepen between Dubai, Latin America and the Caribbean
Presidents, ministers, and businesspeople met at the Global Business Forum 2022 to connect post-Covid trade between the two regions.
Between 23rd-24th March, Dubai played host to the fourth edition of the Global Business Forum Latin America (GBF LATAM). The high-level event was attended in person and virtually by 2,000 participants from 95 countries, including three heads of state, 13 ministers, government officials, business leaders and industry experts.
Under the heading Towards a Resilient Future, delegates discussed how deeper ties between LATAM and Dubai could support both regions’ economic goals in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Investing in LATAM
“I believe the Covid-19 pandemic will shift our world from a globalized to a more regionalized one,” said Marco Requelme, Vice President for International Relations at the Paraguayan Industrial Union, at panel session titled Trade in the Post-Covid World. He argued that the region should expand its capacity for producing its own finished goods, rather than importing them from elsewhere.
John Price, Managing Director of Americas Market Intelligence agreed: “Latin America continues to export resources and import finished goods.” But he added that there is “tremendous opportunity” for investing in the region, especially in technology. “The region has inventive minds… but too many inventors from the region go to Silicon Valley to implement their ideas.”
And technology is key to diversifying LATAM’s business ecosystem and trade networks. “There is no trade unless you can connect and transport, which also includes digital transformation to run trade smoothly and connect with the world,” said Rodolfo Sabonge, Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States.
As a globally connected trade hub, Dubai is bursting with this kind of logistical and technological expertise, particularly given the UAE’s own experience in diversifying away from commodities.
Building on mutual interests
“The UAE and Guyana have a lot in common,” said H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of The Co-Operative Republic of Guyana. “What the UAE has really taught us is how to utilise [oil] revenues to diversify the economy, ensure quality of the system, improve government services, and build state-of-the-art infrastructure.”
Supporting LATAM countries in this journey holds tangible benefits for the UAE, particularly in bolstering its food security.
In a video message to the forum, Iván Duque Márquez, President of the Republic of Colombia said that last year his country had, “consolidated our position as a strategic country to assure food security at a global level.” And the UAE is already a growing importer of Colombian goods, “Between 2019 and 2021, non-mining and energy exports to the United Arab Emirates increased by 53%.”
Other countries in the region are also capitalizing on recent growth. In a virtual address, Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil, said, “After a contraction of 4.1% in 2020… our GDP has grown 4.6% in 2021,” adding that, “We have been carrying out the largest infrastructure investment programme in our history and one of the largest in the world.”
As LATAM infrastructure evolves, expanding its trading capacity, Dubai offers access to a wealth of new markets, said H.E. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chambers, “the emirate’s centralized location provides easy access to over two billion people living in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.”
And routing goods from LATAM into these markets would support the UAE’s own diversification objectives. “As Dubai works towards its target of boosting foreign trade to $544 billion within the next five years, Latin America will be a key focus for our ambitious strategy,” H.E. Ghurair continued.
Turning talk into action
“In the fourth edition of the forum, we were able to build many new ties that will shape the future of strategic relations between Dubai, the wider GCC and the 27 countries that make up Latin America and the Caribbean. We look forward to seeing these interactions translating into new economic partnerships,” said H.E. Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers.
The next step, says Riquelme, is to take the seeds from GBF LATAM 2022 and sew them in delegates’ respective regions, “I was amazed during this visit by the warmth of the people of the UAE, which has a huge similarity to our region. And now we can all go back and be ambassadors of the UAE in our countries; people there don’t know enough about this region, and vice versa.”
