Saturday, Nov 21, 2009

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The volume of non-oil trade in the United Arab Emirates is expected to increase by 10% in 2009 from last year, with increased non-oil exports pushing the country's trade deficit down 25% in the first half of this year, an official said.

Non-oil trade in the U.A.E amounted to 310 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($85 billion) in the first half of the year, and full-year trade volumes are expected to increase 10% over 2008's volume of AED789 billion, the Ministry of Foreign Trade said in an e-mailed statement Saturday, citing director general Abdullah Al Saleh.

Non-oil exports rose 24% in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, while imports for the same period declined 20%, resulting in a 25% decline in trade deficit for the period, the statement said.

The second half of 2009 has seen "huge activity in foreign trade, especially in re-exports," the statement said.

Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, countries are studying signing free trade agreements with South Korea and the European Union, "which has only two concerns left to address before an agreement is finally reached," the statement said.

The U.A.E's participation in the ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization in Geneva later this month will be "consultative at the ministerial level, and will not include free trade deals", the statement added.

-By Nour Malas, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4960; nour.malas@dowjones.com

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21-11-09 1011GMT