The 15th Abu Dhabi-Singapore Joint Forum (ADSJF) was held today in Singapore where it was Co-Chaired by Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Executive Affairs Authority, and with Dr. Tan See Leng, Singapore’s Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry. The Forum which is a part of the official visit of H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was graced by ambassadors, senior officials from the two countries and delegation from the government and private sectors.
From this note, it is evident that each of these objectives was the driving force behind the cooperation of the ADSJF to sustain established collaborations and look for opportunities for further partnership. The UAE is also the country’s largest trading partner in the Middle East; the non-oil trade reached 5.8 billion USD in 2023 year. Both nations reaffirmed their mutual intent to increase cooperation in sectors of common priority such as, Financial Sector, Financial Technology or Fintech Sector, Green Economy and Food Security, Government Service Sector, Space Sector, Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes.
Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak also noted the significance of the Forum: “The Abu Dhabi –Singapore Joint Forum is indeed a working model of a theatre that offers valuable opportunities for working on the enhancement of the relations between the two states as well as the creation of the partnership in the corresponding spheres of interest.” This partnership goes on supporting both economies and societies under the leadership as mentioned above. These sentiments were supported by Dr Tan who stated that since its start in 2008 ADSJF has played a crucial role in economic diplomacy,co-creating business development for both countries.
One topic of the interest during this session was a global water deficit and the regional Abu Dhabi-based Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative (MBZWI) launched in 2013. The focus of the initiative is the scarcity for water in order to promote technological advancement while raising the awareness of water issues as the global параметр.
Indeed, when the ADSJF was launched in 2007, it strengthened a UAE-Singapore bilateral relationship that was marked by active trade, investment, and strategic ties with further positive growth in the main areas of attractive sectors.