UAE is “over 100 percent” committed to the OPEC+ agreement to curb oil production, as the country’s production under the agreement reached about 3,000,072 barrels per day (BPD), announced Minister of Energy and Industry Suhail al-Mazrouei on Saturday.
"There are a lot of changes that are outside the concepts of balance of supply and demand: geopolitical changes, economic changes or the economic negotiations between the US and China have a great role to play in defining the size of future oil demand in 2020," Mazrouei said, according to WAM.
He noted that when negotiations end, the picture will be clearer regarding the future oil demand for 2020 and 2021.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies have agreed to maintain the current levels of oil production cuts until December. The organization stressed that all countries should abide by the OPEC + charter announced during the 16th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee.
Mazrouei announced a new initiative will be launched during the UNIDO General Conference, which will include a clear vision of the future of the industry in the UAE based on the foundations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution including artificial intelligence, and 3D printing.
The Minister stressed that the UAE's approach in developing a diversified and sustainable knowledge-based economy in which the industrial sector has played a key role.
“The UAE has adopted a comprehensive and integrated approach to developing the industrial sector which has allowed us to establish a sophisticated industrial base in unprecedented time and some of our national industrial companies have become major contributors to global value chains in a variety of advanced industrial sectors, such as aviation, aluminum, and other leading industries,” he indicated.
He pointed out that UAE was in 2017, the world’s largest donor of development assistance in proportion to Gross National Income for the fifth year running by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development.
UAE regularly exceed the UN target of 0.7 percent official development assistance in proportion to GNI. This is also seen through the foreign aid contributions channeled towards sustainable development and improving human welfare.
These principles are codified in the country’s five-year strategy for foreign aid, announced by the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation for 2017-2021.
The strategy sees the UAE direct aid towards three key goals: women’s empowerment and protection, transport and urban infrastructure, and technical co-operation, Mazrouei explained.
“The UAE has focused on fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem and providing strong support for small and medium enterprises to enter the industrial sector and contribute to global value chains. Embracing innovation and advanced technology is at the heart of the UAE’s efforts to develop a sustainable economy,” Mazrouei was quoted as saying.
Minister Mazrouei was at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in Abu Dhabi, followed by the 18th General Conference of UNIDO.
For his part, Director-General of UNIDO, Li Yong, said in his speech that the UAE has made great efforts to devote attention to achieving the goals of sustainable development in institutions and companies. He indicated that the ideas of sustainable development are reflected in Vision 2021 and government development plans.
Yong said that UNIDO has a long history of cooperation with the countries of the region, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and is currently implementing 14 projects in the Arab Gulf states.
The projects include developing energy, enhancing energy efficiency in the industrial sector, and mitigating and adapting to climate change through cleaner production.
The Director-General also announced that many of UNIDO projects support the adoption of recycling, with some focusing on enhancing resource efficiency in production. Others help develop safe and easy-to-recycle products while extending the life of products.