UAE-Latin America ties present a model for a new type of alliance
Over the past decade, the UAE has made a majority of the Arab Gulf's investments in that region. The UAE's business promotion organisations have representative offices in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Panama to support companies in finding business opportunities in Latin America. It is also focusing on promoting tourism and trade, especially in countries such as Colombia. In other examples, Peru and the Dominican Republic have been targets of port development.
With a foundation of mutual interest in sustainable development and economic growth, this strategy is set to enrich both regions with enhanced trade, innovation and collaborative efforts. Given the UAE's capital base and focus on tech-driven industries, Latin America's rich deposits of critical minerals also make a strong combination for creating robust supply chains.
As part of its connectivity agenda, the UAE is bolstering Latin American ports' capacity and efficiency. For example, significant investments have been in port terminals in Peru and Ecuador. Providing a green twist, the expansion also includes state-of-the-art electric-powered equipment and electric charging station for lorries, thus promoting sustainable logistics solutions.
Over the past decade, the UAE has made a majority of the Arab Gulf's investments in Latin America
These, combined with Latin America being home to a young and promising workforce, distinct and independent political visions, and its unique geographical location connecting the two largest oceans of the world, will also create jobs and boost economic growth amid shifting global demands. Beyond trade and investment, non-traditional strategic sectors are becoming a key focus of the partnership, such as the establishment of joint platforms for knowledge production, as well as co-operation in the fields of defence technologies, space, digitisation and scientific innovation.
While the average growth in gross domestic product for the region is 2 per cent, countries such as Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica are tipped to grow between 3 per cent and 4 per cent. With the desire to increase its GDP to $800 billion in less than a decade, the UAE is pursuing an active economic diplomacy agenda, including exploring the potential for opening new missions in Latin America.
The UAE also signed comprehensive economic partnerships agreements – or Cepas – with Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia last year. These agreements reduce tariffs, streamline customs procedures and foster investments in key sectors. More Cepas are being explored with other Latin American countries, including the Mercosur bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, among others.
Another overlap between the UAE and Latin America is the Brics grouping, which includes Brazil as a core member. The UAE officially became a full member of Brics last year. This membership aligns with the Emirates' vision to strengthen its role as a global trade hub and strengthens its collaborative agenda with developing nations.
Despite all these factors – plus the absence of conflicts or tensions between the UAE and Latin American countries, which provide the ideal platform for a synergetic future – the relations at present are far from optimal. There is an urgent need to address the challenges that are impeding the robust growth of this relationship.
To facilitate this, the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research and Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, in co-operation with Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Brazil, are convening a workshop of scholars, diplomats and policymakers on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro. The conclave, on the sidelines of the Brics Summit, will discuss the overlapping interests between the two sides. The Track 1.5 dialogue will explore their relations from a comprehensive economic-sustainability-technology policy lens and facilitate evolving innovative strategies to develop the multifaceted opportunities and mitigate the pitfalls.
Under the umbrella of the annual Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, which underscores Hili's importance as a crossroad for ancient trade and cultural interaction in the Bronze Age, regional platforms will henceforth rotate through various continents of the world. The dialogue in Rio, involving government officials, think tankers, academics and businesspeople, will pay particular attention to the following – economic changes in Latin America and the UAE; significance of UAE-Latin America ties in a disruptive global ecosystem; main drivers of co-operation; prospects for collaboration beyond traditional trade; evolving strategies to ensure win-win synergy; sustainable development issues; and evolving intellectual and policy instruments to achieve the above.
In a world where the effectiveness of the current international order is being questioned, this bridge between the UAE-Gulf and Latin America presents a model for a new type of alliance. Based on pragmatism, rather than polarisation or domination, this interaction could emerge as a pivotal feature of a new global order taking shape outside traditional pathways – one rooted in South-South co-operation.
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