The UAE holds the first strategic financial dialogue with Bahrain

Dubai, 7 February / WAM / The United Arab Emirates, represented by the Ministry of Finance, held the first strategic financial dialogue with the sisterly Kingdom of Bahrain, as part of the executive plan aimed at activating the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries, within the framework of enhancing cooperation and financial integration and strengthening relations between the two sides through four axes, including: holding dialogue sessions between officials, exchanging experiences and technical and specialized cooperation, launching joint initiatives and programs, and following up on implementation and evaluation.

On the part of the UAE, the dialogue was attended by His Excellency Younis Haji Al Khouri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, His Excellency Ali Abdullah Sharafi, Assistant Undersecretary for International Financial Relations at the Ministry of Finance, and on the side of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the delegation of the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, namely, His Excellency Yousef Abdullah Al-Hamoud, Undersecretary for Financial Affairs, His Excellency Adnan Abdul Wahab Ishaq, Assistant Undersecretary for Financial Policies and Budget, His Excellency Noura Hassan Al-Assam, Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Information, His Excellency Iman Jawad Al-Asfour, Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, and His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Director of the International Relations Department, and senior officials from both sides.

His Excellency Younis Haji Al Khouri stressed that holding the first strategic financial dialogue between the UAE and the Kingdom of Bahrain represents a constructive step towards developing the partnership between the two brotherly countries, enhancing financial integration, and embodies our joint commitment to deepening relations and establishing an integrated model for sustainable cooperation, as the dialogue sessions will contribute to unifying visions and formulating policies that enhance financial integration and allow discussion of common issues on a broader level in line with the future aspirations of the two countries.

His Excellency pointed out that the exchange of experiences aims to build a regional reference model in financial and economic management, and to enhance the competitiveness of the two countries and their ability to face global challenges through well-established institutional partnerships and joint research, pointing out that developing institutional capabilities is an essential pillar to ensure the sustainability of cooperation, through developing human capital and adopting innovation and digital transformation, in a way that supports development plans and consolidates a culture of excellence.

His Excellency Younis Haji Al-Khouri explained that the joint initiatives and programs will be built on clear foundations that ensure the achievement of the objectives of the executive plan to activate the memorandum of understanding signed between our two countries, and maintain continuity of communication and evaluation, thus contributing to drawing a long-term road map that consolidates financial relations between the two countries.

For his part, His Excellency Yousef Abdullah Al-Hamoud stressed the depth of the strong historical relations and deep-rooted fraternal ties that bring together the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in various fields, especially in the financial and economic fields.

He praised the good preparation and organization of the first strategic financial dialogue between the two countries, stressing that this dialogue is an important step towards enhancing financial cooperation between the two countries.

His Excellency appreciated the great interest that financial and economic cooperation receives from both sides, especially with regard to development projects financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development in vital sectors such as health, housing, energy, water, infrastructure and transportation, which contributed to accelerating economic development in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in addition to the economic integration and distinguished strategic partnership witnessed in relations.

His Excellency stressed the Kingdom of Bahrain’s keenness to continue strengthening distinguished cooperation and partnership with the UAE and to push cooperation to a new stage in various fields, especially in the financial fields, mutual investments, artificial intelligence and financial technology.

During the dialogue session, the aspects of implementing the memorandum of understanding between the two countries were reviewed, which revolves around four main tracks: holding periodic dialogue sessions between officials of the two countries aimed at enhancing integration and strengthening financial relations, through coordinating financial and monetary policies, exchanging experiences, ideas and viewpoints on topics of common interest, and discussing common challenges in a number of sectors such as tax, customs, investment and financial technology.

The sessions are held periodically, “annually or semi-annually,” alternating between the Emirates and Bahrain, and are chaired by the Ministers of Finance or their representatives. Senior officials from the relevant authorities in the financial and economic fields, trade, industry, investment, taxes, and customs participate in the dialogue, or representatives of the various authorities, or any other parties that the two sides wish to participate in the dialogue.

The second axis includes the exchange of experiences and technical and specialized cooperation in the areas of financial and economic legislation, tax legislation and policies, debt management, financial technology, and government procurement, in addition to financial and economic studies and reports.

It also includes cooperation and coordination to unify positions on relevant topics with regional and international economic and financial organizations and institutions, in addition to joint financial services such as centralization of government procurement, central efficiency, and human and financial resources managers.

In the field of training and development, it includes training exchange, through attending training programmes, seminars and conferences related to the financial and economic fields, investment, partnership with the private sector, government real estate management, and working to benefit from the application of artificial intelligence in the field of training.

In terms of government real estate management and real estate investments, the dialogue included enhancing cooperation with the Land Department between the two sides regarding the use of artificial intelligence in government real estate management and everything related to the real estate sector, and learning about the latest practices in real estate management and the field of real estate investment, in addition to mutual promotion of real estate investments through government platforms in the two countries, whether bids put forward through the government land investment platform or investment projects in the UAE announced through its own government platforms.

The theme also included the uses of advanced technology and applications of artificial intelligence in financial and economic systems, and the governance of technical operations and information security for central financial systems.

In the field of international cooperation, the axis refers to the exchange of training between the two countries through attendance at joint training programs, workshops, conferences and training seminars in the regional and international economic and financial fields.

The axis of the joint initiatives included developing the institutional capabilities of the two countries, through implementing joint programs and training courses related to financial policies and management, regional and international financial cooperation, and launching a joint media plan to highlight the joint cooperation between the two countries in topics related to the ministries of finance, in addition to cooperation and partnership in digital transformation topics.

This axis includes following up on the implementation and evaluation of the plan by forming a coordination team to follow up on the progress of work and the axes included in the plan, preparing periodic reports to measure performance and achieving goals, submitting these reports to the relevant ministers in both countries, and reviewing the plan annually and introducing amendments with the approval of both parties.

The strategic financial dialogue reviewed a video highlighting the financial relations between the two countries, and the UAE delegation gave a presentation on the “Digital Government Procurement Platform,” a presentation on the “Virtual Mona” project, and another on “Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy,” while the Bahraini side gave a presentation on financial inclusion.

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