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Abu Dhabi: Canada's Ontario province is aiming to double the size of its trading base with the UAE over the next five years through wider bilateral trade initiatives, the province's Minister for International Trade and Investment said on Tuesday.
"The UAE is our 18th largest trading partner. Trade ties between Ontario and the UAE has risen sharply. Between 2003 and 2007, the two-way trade increased 255 per cent," Sandra Pupatello told Gulf News in an interview.
"Ontario's exports to the UAE rose more than 400 per cent, while goods imported from the UAE increased a bit more than 10 per cent," she added.
"We are now looking at a 20 per cent increase each year in two-way trade, doubling it over five years," said Pupatello, who is currently on a visit to Abu Dhabi and is seeking to woo UAE investors to her province. The UAE is Canada's largest merchandise export market in the Middle East and North Africa region. Ontario is in east-central Canada. It's the largest province by population in the country and the second largest after Quebec in area.
Major exports
Toronto, Canada's largest city, is the capital of Ontario. Pupatello said that as of 2007, Ontario's goods exports to the UAE were valued at C$295.7 million, while Ontario's goods imports from the UAE were valued at C$16.8 million.
Ontario's major exports to the UAE include unwrought gold, helicopters, aircraft, spacecraft, telephone equipment and computers.
Its imports from the UAE include mainly jewellery, iron, diamonds and perfumes.
Pupatello said Ontario manufactures specialised oilfield services equipment to cater to the requirements of Canada's energy-rich Alberta province and these could come in handy for the UAE's oil and natural gas sector.
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