The UAE and the Argentinian Republic have discussed co-operation in the fields of trade, agriculture and animal husbandry.

This occurred at the meeting held by the country’s delegation headed by Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, with Francisco Cabrera, Argentinian Minister of Production, at the Ministry’s headquarters in the capital, Buenos Aires.

The meeting was attended by Abdulla Abdul Qader Al Maeeni, Director-General of Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology, ESMA, Ali Al Hajj, Director of the Scientific Metrology Department at ESMA, and Hussein Ali Al Naqbi, Acting Charge d'affaires of the UAE Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Al Saleh stressed the UAE’s efforts to strengthen trade and economic relations with countries across the world to serve common interests in the fields of development, agriculture and animal husbandry.

He said the meeting saw discussions on strengthening bilateral relations between the UAE and Argentina in the fields of trade and economy. He also pointed that the Argentinian side stressed its keenness to benefit from the UAE’s infrastructure and logistics to export Argentinian goods to the country, and from it to the rest of the region.

Al Saleh clarified that during the meeting there were discussions with a number of Argentinian businessmen and owners of companies, who work in the field of agriculture and meat production, on receiving the UAE Halal mark.

Al Maeeni said the meeting witnessed deliberations on granting the Halal certificates to Argentinian companies through four authorities, which apply the national system in granting these certificates that are considered the first of their kind internationally.

They also explored the latest updates in the establishment of the Argentine National Centre for Accreditation, which will be an authority that offers Halal accreditation services to the certificate granting authorities in Argentina and Latin American countries.

He clarified that this Centre recently joined the International Halal Accreditation Forum, IHAF, within the framework of the initiative of the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to make the UAE the capital of Islamic economy at the international level.

Al Maeeni mentioned that during the meeting there was also a discussion with the Director of the Argentine Institute for Standardisation and Halal Certificate Granting about the means of co-operation between the Institute and ESMA to harmonise the standard specifications of the products distributed between the two countries. The aim is to facilitate commercial exchange and remove technical obstacles to trade.

The UAE delegation held meetings with the delegations of Panama, Ecuador and Paraguay participating in the World Trade Organisation’s 11th Ministerial Conference held in the Argentinian capital from 10th to 13th December.

They also spoke about the relations between the UAE and these countries and the mechanism of participation in the Expo 2020 Dubai