Andalusia’s exports to the UAE went up by 34%. This is a strategic market, with total exports in excess of 200 million euros in the first eleven months of 2021

Andalusia Week at the Dubai World Expo opened its doors today to showcase the region’s potential as a leader in research, technology and creativity, with a full program of activities aimed at demonstrating the strengths of Andalusia in economic areas that offer important business opportunities in Middle Eastern markets, such as agri-food (through cuisine), consumer goods (through fashion), cultural industries (through flamenco), and its appeal as a world tourism destination.

The event was opened today by the CEO of Andalusia Global, Rosario Alarcón, the Executive Commissioner of the Spanish Pavilion, Carmen Bueno, and the Economic and Commercial Attaché of the Spanish Embassy in the UAE, Andrés Salinero, thus kicking off the official program for the week.

The Regional Government of Andalusia and the Interior organized this event, which begins today and ends on February 13, under the slogan ‘Andalusia, an intelligent future at Expo Dubai 2020’, the focus of which will be February 12 with the celebration of the Day of Honor of Andalusia, which will be chaired by the president of the Andalusian Government, Juanma Moreno.

The purpose of these events is to position the region, its economic fabric and its main strengths and potential, as an international leader in response to the challenges of a future that must be sustainable, as stated in the main theme of Expo Dubai 2020, the largest global showcase of human advancement. As a result, the Andalusian Government is asserting Andalusia’s unique approach to dealing with what is to come, complementing the best of its traditions with the latest technological innovations to build a model of sustainable development.

After the official acts to kick off Andalusia Week, which included signing the guest book, the CEO of Andalusia Global introduced the first performance of the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, a show that will be repeated throughout the week at the Spanish venue at the expo. The participants in the inauguration also took part in the first Andalusian extra virgin olive oil tasting of the week, before attending the inaugural flamenco fashion show, which all visitors to the Expo will be able to see every day until the 13th of February in the Spanish pavilion.

During her visit, Rosario Alarcón noted that «Expo Dubai 2020 provides a unique opportunity to showcase the Andalusian industries with the greatest potential in the Middle East, a region to which more than 1,500 Andalusian companies exported goods worth 401 million euros in the first eleven months of 2021, 10.4% more than in the same period in the previous year”. Alarcón added that, «Half of these sales, 202 million euros, were to the United Arab Emirates, where Andalusian exports grew by 34% over the same period in the previous year».

Alarcón highlighted the support offered by the Regional Government of Andalusia to all this business activity in the region through the Extenda Office in Dubai, opened in 2009: «In the decade that followed (2010-2019), Andalusia’s exports to the United Arab Emirates grew six-fold and sales to the entire Middle East more than tripled, and in 2021 we grew more than twice the average for Spain, with a trade surplus and national leadership in sales to this country, both in technological fields, such as aviation, and in traditional products, such as olive oil, which demonstrates the strength of Andalusia’s diversified foreign sector”.

Day of Honor with Juanma Moreno

Today’s inauguration marks the start of Andalusia Week, whose key event will take place on the 12th with the Day of Honor, to be chaired by the president of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, as part of a visit to the country that will include a full institutional and business agenda.

All this week, the region will be hosting a program that includes shows from the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, a fashion show, showcooking, thematic videos on strategic industries in the region, and an interactive tourism stand. All the information on the schedule of activities during Andalusia Week at Expo Dubai 2020 is also available on the bilingual page created on the website of Extenda-Andalucía Exportación e Inversión Extranjera (https://www.andaluciatrade.es/expo-dubai), which also contains the extensive catalog of videos being shown during this time in the Spanish Pavilion.

Sixteen promotional videos will be shown during Andalusia Week at Expo Dubai 2020. These videos will showcase Andalusia to the world and cover four topics of significance to the region: research, technology, intercultural tradition and a sustainable future driven by advances in renewable energy. The video will be broadcast starting today and run continuously throughout the week in the Spanish Pavilion.

In addition, notable activities are scheduled every day to promote Andalusia at Expo Dubai 2020, such as showcooking and tastings of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) on the outdoor stage of the Spanish pavilion, led by Andalusian chef Amelia Gómez. Likewise, in recognition of flamenco as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and one of Andalusia’s most recognized hallmarks, both flamenco art and fashion will be featured with a daily song and dance show by Ballet Flamenco de Andalusía. The fashion show is being organized by the Doble Erre agency. Both shows are taking place inside the Spanish Pavilion.

Exports grow

Reports from Extenda indicate that trade relations between Andalusia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are growing, with trade between the two territories totaling 336 million euros between January and November 2021, which represents a growth of 31% compared to the same period in 2020, with a rising trend in both directions, but with a 67-million-euro trade surplus in favor of Andalusia.

Andalusia currently ranks third among Spanish regions in exports to the UAE, with 202 million in sales between January and November 2021, an increase of 34% versus the first eleven months of 2020, which is more than double the average growth for Spain as a whole (+13.6%, up to 1.573 billion). The UAE ranks eleventh among Andalusia’s non-European markets, with a total of 865 exporters registered in the first 11 months of 2021, 22.9% more than in the same period of 2020, of which 154 were regular exporters, an increase of 3.4%.

Andalusia’s commercial leadership in the Emirati market is highly diversified. It is Spain’s top exporting region of high-tech industrial exports, such as in aviation, where it accounts for 100% of the country’s exports, which totaled 43 million between January and November of 2021, a 42-fold increase in sales, and also of machinery and boilers, which totaled 40 million euros. It is also the national leader in olive oil exports, at 15.1 million euros, accounting for 75% of Spain’s total; and oleaginous seeds and fruits, at 17.8 million euros and 100% of Spain’s total.

As a result, the UAE accounts for almost half of all Andalusian exports to the Middle East, which, as a whole, is exhibiting significant year-to-year growth in exports of 10.4%, reaching 401 million euros between January-November 2021.

Horizons of opportunity

Since the year after the Extenda Office opened in Dubai (2009), Andalusia has been gaining ground on the UAE market, with a rising trend that was only interrupted in the year 2020 due to the economic standstill brought about by Covid-19, after having grown by 145% in 2019, the year before the pandemic, and up to 540% between 2010 and 2019, a growth that is five times higher than that experienced by Spain as a whole during this period (97%).

According to data from Extenda, Andalusia’s business opportunities in the Middle East in general and in the Emirati market in particular include agri-food (processed and fresh), construction materials, ancillary industry for agriculture, health, engineering (renewable energies), the environment, architecture, interior design, jewelry and accessories. Because of this, and in order to fully leverage the business opportunities for Andalusian companies in the Emirati market and in the Middle East in general, the Regional Government of Andalusia is making available the Extenda Office in Dubai to companies. This office is run from Seville by the Department for Africa and the Middle East, and also provides services in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.