27 Nov Business relations at the pavilions – Comparing Italy to other countries present at Expo Milano 2015:the United Arab Emirates

The key theme at the core of the pavilion of the United Arab Emirates stems from the need (contrasting the decreasing demand and the consequences of climate change) and is projected directly into the future, while trying to respect the traditional culture and to offer visitors an overall enjoyable experience. The goal is to raise awareness and involve people by stimulating them to embrace change. The future is filled with initiatives aimed at promoting the upcoming Expo, which will be held in 2020 in the UAE.

The structure of the pavilion is based on the landscape of this region, with soft shapes resembling dunes and various projections inside. At the end of Expo, the pavilion will be dismantled and reassembled in Masdar City, a city with low carbon emissions in the United Arab Emirates.

Trade relations between Italy and the UAE are of great importance. In fact, the UAE are Italy’s main export market in the Middle East and, altogether, Italy ranks in seventh place among the countries supplying the UAE.  In 2014, the level of exports from Italy to the UAE settled around 5.3 billion euros, with a slight decrease compared to 2013 figures.

A rather relevant figure, instead, concerns Italy’s imports from the UAE, which have decreased by 51.8%. However, the data of 2013 may have been affected by some kind of anomaly, given the fact that a record amount of 1.3 billion euros was recorded. Some of the sectors that helped these two countries to maintain excellent trade relations are precious metals, machinery, crude oil and oil derivatives.

Italy will need to be able to maintain, if not even increase, its relations with the UAE, since this country is by far the most vibrant and dynamic of the entire Middle East, as well as an interesting business opportunity in view of Expo 2020. In this context, the grounds for an improvement in relations could be the collaboration agreement signed by the companies in charge of organising the two Expo events