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Trade Policy Review of the United Arab Emirates – 23 March 2022

Statement made by Iceland

Thank you chair for giving me the floor and let me use the opportunity and join others in welcoming you to your first meeting as the chair of the Trade Policy Review Body.

Before I turn to the TPR of the United Arab Emirates, please allow me to express concerns regarding the ongoing attack on Ukraine.

Iceland condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the brutal, unjustified, and unprovoked attack of Russia on Ukraine.

Iceland reiterates its unwavering support for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders.

Chair, I will now turn to the Trade Policy Review of the United Arab Emirates.

It is with pleasure that Iceland welcomes the distinguished delegation of the United Arab Emirates to their fourth trade policy review. We also express appreciation to the WTO Secretariat and the United Arab Emirates for the reports prepared, as well as to the discussant, for the excellent framing of the issues for our discussion today.

As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council or the GCC, the United Arab Emirates has a free trade agreement with the EFTA states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The agreement has all the possibilities of serving our countries well, with coverages that includes trade in goods, services, governmental procurement, and competition.

Given the global challenges we are fronted with, it is important to keep in mind that it is a well-known fact that improving gender equality and empowering women, not only positively contributes to economic growth, as we have so often highlighted in this body, but it also contributes to sustainable peace and security in many concrete ways.

Iceland takes note of the measures taken by the United Arab Emirates to strengthen women’s economic empowerment with the establishment of the Gender Balance Council in 2015 as well as other gender specific action taken to improve gender equality. One example, and the most relevant for WTO, on how to achieve that goal is to apply targeted gender-based trade policies and programs.

Improved data collection and gender-based analysis are important when it comes to developing gender-based trade policies. So is the sharing of best practices of respective experiences relating to those policies and programs. 

In the spirit of supporting relevant data gathering in this field, Iceland has submitted questions on the participation of women in the economy of the United Arab Emirates. We welcome the replies as the answers will be useful in gathering best practices in the promotion of gender-equality within trade.

Finally, as one of the co-chairs of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender, Iceland welcomes the United Arab Emirates’ support to the proposed Joint Ministerial Declaration on the advancement of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment within trade.

Chair,

Iceland appreciates the United Arab Emirates active engagement in WTO and their continued support for the multilateral trading system. We wish the delegation of the United Arab Emirates every success for their trade policy review.