UAE Embassy Visits the City of Atlanta, Georgia to Promote Increased Partnership and Trade

WASHINGTON, DC (28 Mar 2014) – Diplomats from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Embassy in Washington, DC, recently returned from Atlanta, Georgia where they met with government,  business and community leaders to explore areas for future collaboration and highlight the growing bilateral UAE-US trade relationship. 

The UAE has one of its fastest growing trade relationships in the US with Georgia. The state ranks eighth among US states exporting merchandise to the UAE.  In 2013, total Georgia merchandise exports to the UAE were valued at $790 million, a 95 percent increase since 1999.  Top exports from Georgia to the UAE included passenger vehicles, aerospace, turbojet parts, and generators. Exports to the UAE alone support employment of over 6,888 individuals in Georgia. The port of Savannah handled nearly $1.2 billion in trade with the UAE in 2013, and is ranked 6th largest US port for trade with the UAE.

While in Atlanta, the diplomats met with senior leadership from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Mayor’s Office and Invest Atlanta to learn more about state and local sustainability initiatives and the potential for future collaboration between the city of Atlanta and the UAE.  The diplomats also briefed approximately 100 students and faculty at Grady High School on the UAE’s economic diversification plan and the prominent roles of Emirati women in government, business and society. 

The diplomats learned about best practices to promote entrepreneurship and create successful startups from leaders of various centers for innovation that included the Global Center for Medical Innovation and Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center, Flashpoint and VentureLab.  They were also welcomed by leadership at the Carter Center, where they received a tour and discussed the long-standing relationship between the UAE and the Atlanta-based organization.

“Georgia and the UAE share a multifaceted and rising commercial and cultural relationship,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US, “visits like this highlight and inform Americans across the US of the burgeoning US-UAE bilateral relationship.”

Organized in coordination with the World Trade Center Atlanta, the trip also included a series of events with executives from the aviation, healthcare, logistics and communications industries, as well as an evening reception honoring the diplomats and highlighting the growing trade and economic ties between the UAE and US. 

The travel to Atlanta is part of the UAE Embassy's ongoing effort to raise awareness among Americans of the deep UAE-US bilateral relationship. UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba and Embassy diplomats plan to tour several additional US cities this year.