DUBAI, 21st November 2022 — Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, stated that the UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, focuses on fostering strategic collaboration with the United States launching effective international cooperation, aiming to enhance sustainable growth in the digital economy building a better future for societies.
This came during a meeting of Omar Sultan Al Olama with Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service; Sean Murphy, Chargé d’Affaires at the United States Embassy in Abu Dhabi; and Meghan Gregonis, United States Consul General in Dubai to sign a joint statement about data transmission across borders and discuss the importance of data’s collection, and transmission across borders.
Al Olama said that the collaboration with the USA reflects the UAE’s global message on the importance of promoting partnerships and joint initiatives between the governments, solidifying international stability and prosperity, support the development endeavours, and economic cooperation.
He further added that the meeting reaffirmed the importance of building digital foundations based on data, knowledge, and innovation; enhancing the ability to collect data and facilitate its transmission across borders to ensure the development of the digital economy, sharing state-of-the-art solutions to pressing challenges, and developing digital systems to achieve rapid growth and prosperity in trade and the digital economy.
Arun Venkataraman said, “Today's announcement signals both our countries' commitment to ensuring robust data privacy protections which are crucial to innovation and development of the digital economy and the future of U.S.-UAE trade.”
“We know that secure and private cross-border data transfers are essential components of competitive markets, and so we thank Minister Al Olama, and the UAE government, for collaborating with the U.S. Department of Commerce in this effort,” he added.
“It is great to see the release of this joint statement after several years of close collaboration with our colleagues in the United Arab Emirates, which began in earnest after a policy mission led by I&A Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services to the UAE in January 2020,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Analysis (I&A) Grant Harris.
“Businesses and communities alike across the United States and UAE have benefited from our close work together through workshops, exchanges, dialogues and sharing information on critical digital economy issues like facilitating cross-border data flows. We look forward to continuing this work and our discussions about the opportunities presented by the creation of the new Global Cross Border Privacy Rules System,” he added.
The discussion reviewed the benefits of digitization and the anticipated benefits of speeding digital transformation on modernizing the global economy and boosting the use of technology to provide services.
The meeting discussed the importance of empowering both employees and consumers, improving risk management capabilities, and increasing innovation and economic growth – while also acknowledging the economic and social benefits of boosting interoperable mechanisms that facilitate cross-border data flow across economies with different regulatory regimes.
The session also addressed the anticipated problems of these advancements, as well as the various methods for transferring data between nations. Similarly, measures to assure continuing information exchange, international systems to enable the movement of personal data, and best practices to improve interoperability between the two nations are being developed.
Since 2009, the UAE has been the number one export market for US goods in the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
In 2021, bilateral trade totaled $23.03 billion, with the US exporting more than $17 billion of goods and services to the UAE — a 16% increase from 2020, said an official source.
This robust trade relationship reflects the success of the UAE’s increasingly diverse economy, with non-oil sectors accounting for 70% of the UAE’s GDP.
*Source – Emirates News Agency (WAM)