Abu Dhabi, March 23rd, 2009 (WAM)--UAE Foreign Trade Minister HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, highlighted here yesterday the depth of relations between the UAE and Australia at the opening Dinner of the Australia-UAE Dialogue at Emirates Palace Hotel.

"The UAE is one of Australias largest trading partners in the Middle East, and its 13th largest overall. Considering our relative size, that is a particularly striking statistic", she added.

Speaking at the opening Dinner of the Australia-UAE Dialogue, Sunday, Sheikha Lubna indicated that more than 15,000 Australians currently live in the UAE, and over 600 Australian companies operate here. 30,000 Emiratis visit Australia on an annual basis, and there are currently 1500 UAE students in Australias universities.

She thanked HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his patronage, the Lowy Institute for International Policy, for convening and moderating the dialogue and the Australian Government for the support it has provided through the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.

Sheikha Lubna said the UAE exports significant quantities of petroleum to Australia, and imports an even greater quantity of cars, metals and food.

"Following the recent disruption in financial markets, the Governments of the UAE and Australia both took similar steps to maintain confidence in our respective financial systems, by injecting liquidity and guaranteeing bank deposits quickly and efficiently', she added.

The full text of the speech: Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,"It is a pleasure to be speaking at this important event; the opening of the inaugural Australia-UAE Dialogue.

I especially want to thank those of you that travelled all the way from Australia to be here tonight. I know how long that flight can be, and I thank you all for coming so far. Despite the distance, it seems more Australians and Emiratis are making that same trip every week.

More than 15,000 Australians currently live in the UAE, and over 600 Australian companies operate here. 30,000 Emiratis visit Australia on an annual basis, and there are currently 1500 UAE students who, I am sure, are hard at work in Australias universities, resisting your countrys many pleasant distractions.

Our economic relationship is strong and complementary. The UAE exports significant quantities of petroleum to Australia, and imports an even greater quantity of cars, metals and food.

A quick visit to any supermarket in the UAE will give you an idea of just how much Australian produce is consumed here, and theres a good chance the vehicle that takes you there will also have been made in Australia.

The UAE is one of Australias largest trading partners in the Middle East, and its 13th largest overall. Considering our relative size, that is a particularly striking statistic.

In fact, in all of the areas in which we do cooperate, the UAE and Australia do it very well. What we dont do as well as we should is expanding that cooperation, and more fully leverages the areas in which our national interests are aligned.

Right now, there are many examples, from combating climate change and expanding bilateral trade, to ensuring international markets remain open for investment at a time when the world desperately needs capital to flow more freely.

What strikes me when I look at each of these challenges is just how similar our Governments responses have been to each of them.

Take climate change for example. In January 2007, the Government of Abu Dhabi announced a $15 billion investment in the Masdar initiative to develop and commercialize renewable energy technologies, and to establish the worlds first carbon neutral city.

Masdar will soon be manufacturing solar panels right here in the UAE, creating hundreds of new jobs in the renewable energy sector.

Similarly, in December 2008, the Australian Government announced it was bringing forward the delivery of its own $500 million renewable energy investment fund, with a focus on establishing local solar projects expected to create hundreds of green jobs in Australia.

On climate change and renewable energy, we are already beginning to work together more closely, but there is so much more we can do to collaborate in this important and rapidly growing field.

Parallels also exist in the way our Governments have responded to the global financial crisis.

Following the recent disruption in financial markets, the Governments of the UAE and Australia both took similar steps to maintain confidence in our respective financial systems, by injecting liquidity and guaranteeing bank deposits quickly and efficiently.

I would add that neither Australia nor the UAE have witnessed any of the major bank failures that have recently occurred in some of the worlds most developed economies, which reflects positively on each of our domestic regulatory frameworks.

To me these examples, combined with our strong trade and security relationships, represent more than just a few similarities in Government policy.

Taken more broadly, they reflect a deep compatibility in the way our two countries view the world and our own places in it.

While our cultures may appear very different, the philosophical approaches we take to the most fundamental challenges confronting the world are often the same. And that is a very good sign for the future of our expanding bilateral relationship.

I now want to turn briefly to the reason we are all here tonight: the Australia-UAE Dialogue, which will run for the next two days.

In many ways, it seems to me that the Dialogue has already begun. As I look around this room, I can already see it underway, as Australians and Emiratis begin to talk about the ways in which we have worked together in the past, and to consider the opportunities we have to expand those partnerships in the future.

Theres a lot more to be discussed, of course. And when I look at the list of delegates taking part, it seems likely to me that well see a lot of spirited debate over the next two days, even just on our own side. However, when we get to the core of the most pressing issues on the regional and international agenda, I think we will find that our perspectives are more aligned than many people might expect. In many ways, the bilateral business community has recognized this fact already.

It is also something I have seen personally in the government-to-government discussions we have had in recent years on a proposed UAE-Australia, and now GCC-Australia, Free Trade Agreement.

It is my hope that over the next two days, the Australia-UAE Dialogue becomes the forum we all believe it can be. If nothing else, it will provide each of us with an opportunity to celebrate the relationship our two countries have established in the past, and to identify new opportunities to develop it.

For that, I want to thank: * HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his patronage;* The Lowy Institute for International Policy, for convening and moderating the Dialogue; * And the Australian Government for the support it has provided through the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.

With such a strong and reliable foundation and through efforts such as this to expand the ways, in which we interact, the relationship between the UAE and Australia has a very promising future."Thank you102

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.