A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE’s federal credit insurance company, and South Africa’s export credit agency Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) at the recently held South Africa-UAE Forum n Johannesburg.
The UAE delegation at the forum was headed by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and Deputy Chairman of the ECI Board of Directors.
The forum was organised by UAE Ministry of Economy in the presence of Massimo Falcioni, CEO of ECI, and Kutoane Kutoane, CEO of ECIC.
Both the parties, UAE and South Africa (SA) pledged to come together to explore trade development, technical, and economic collaborations that are based on defined areas of interest.
These areas of interest include SME programmes, market intelligence, business practices, insurance, co-insurance collections; and also trade shows, events, and forums.
As a part of the collaboration, the UAE also has pledged to inject billions of dollars into the South African economy.
Falcioni told the media that, “This partnership creates a common base for both nations to explore and enhance trade and economic cooperation. ECI’s mission, which reinforces the UAE’s Vision 2021, focuses on building a diversified and innovation-driven economy. And this collaboration with the ECIC will help UAE businesses set their foot in international markets by providing them access to a multitude of business practices along with trade insurance and financial solutions.”
According to the UAE Ministry of Economy statistics, the non-oil foreign trade between the two countries recorded a significant rise of 23 percent in 2017.
Etihad Credit Insurance was established in 2018 by UAE federal government and the governments of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, and Ajman. The company plays a vital role to support UAE’s non-oil exports, trade, investment, and strategic sector development.
The collaboration between UAE and South Africa (SA) is a welcome move for bilateral economic relations and trade.