ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates welcomed a joint visit from senior officials from the European Union, United Kingdom and United States on 5th September to discuss export controls and the trade of potential dual-use products. The visit advances constructive conversations held in February 2023.

During the visit, Erik Woodhouse, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the US Department of State, David O'Sullivan, International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions, and Kumar Iyer, Director General of Economics, Science, and Technology of the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), met with representatives from the Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economy, the Central Bank of the UAE, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The sessions provided an opportunity for the UAE to brief on the country’s export control framework, and for both sides to discuss respective sanctions regimes and set out future plans to further strengthen coordination.

Saeed Al Hajeri, Assistant Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “As one of the world's most important trade and investment hubs, the UAE welcomes the opportunity to build on the constructive conversations held in February to strengthen our partnership and coordination on export controls and sanctions regimes. The visit was an opportunity to highlight the UAE’s export control framework, as well as outline in detail the clear and robust processes in place. The UAE has a legal export control framework and is continuously monitoring the export of dual-use products. We reiterated our commitment to remain in close dialogue with our international partners.”