The UAE has retained its high ranking among the world's top 16 exporter, according to the World Trade Organisation's Report on International Trade Trends.

The report, released recently in Geneva, shows that UAE ranks16th among global exporters and is the number one market for merchandise exports in the MENA region.

In imports, UAE ranks 19th and is the most important market for merchandise imports in MENA. The WTO report says UAE merchandise exports reached $ 359 billion, which is 1.9% of the total world exports. UAE imports grew by 4% and it accounted for 1.4% of the total world exports. Regionally, UAE accounts for 28% of the Middle East merchandise exports and 33% of imports during 2014.

According to the report, UAE ranks 19th among global importers of services. The total value services imports to UAE is $ 72 billion, which constitutes 1.5% of the total global imports of services. However, this rank goes up to 13 when EU is considered as a single bloc. The UAE exports of services increased to $ 17 billion, ranking 25 globally, if EU is considered a bloc.

Economy Minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said: "UAE has become a major player in international trade. Our country bolstered its position in global trade scene and we expect it will continue to do so for the coming years. The trade policy of the UAE, advanced infrastructure, strategic location and legislative environment are all factors contributing to the continuous growth of our trade sector. During the past few years, enormous efforts were exerted to increase the level of competitiveness of the UAE and increase the opportunities of growth and development in all sectors, including trade."

The report showed that global trade saw modest growth by2.4% during 2014 and projected growth to reach 3.3 during 2015 and 4% during 2016. The reports states that many risks and challenges affected the growth of global trade including geopolitical tensions, monetary policies, exchange rates fluctuations, slowdown of growth in emerging economies and decrease in oil prices.

The reports says that abolishing protective measure, easing access to markets and reforming global trade rule can boost international trade. 2014 saw growth in developing countries exports with 3.3% increase, a bigger growth than that of developed countries, which was 2.2%. Developing countries imports grew by 2% while developed countries imports grew by 3.2%. The reports projects developing countries imports to increase by 3.7% and 5% in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Developing countries exports are expected to grow by 3.6% in 2015 and 4.1% in 2016.

The merchandise exports of the Middle East region dropped by 4% during 2014 compared to 2013 while imports increased by 1% for the same period. The services exports from the region increased by 6% in 2014 compared to 2013 while services imports grew by 9%. UAE's share of the region's services imports stand at 27% while it accounts for 14% of the total services exports of the region.