March 27-28, 2019, the Ukrainian delegation led by State Secretary of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine Oleksii Perevezentsev took part in a trade mission to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of the mission is to promote the export of Ukraine's food and processing products to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries. The event is organized by the SE Export Promotion Office jointly with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

"We are seeing positive dynamics in the growth of the total volume of bilateral trade between Ukraine and the UAE. In 2018, exports of Ukrainian goods increased by 26.4%  to $486.2 million as compared to 2017, while imports increased twofold to $33.4 million in 2017 to $79.2 million in 2018", Oleksii Perevezentsev noted.

Within the framework of the trade mission the Ukrainian delegation took part in the business forum "Sweet & Fruit Trade: Ukraine-Middle East" in Dubai devoted to the issues of economic cooperation between Ukraine and the UAE, presentation of Ukrainian export potential to business circles of the UAE, in particular, products of the Ukrainian food and processing industry.

A number of Ukrainian export-oriented companies working in promising sectors of the food and processing industry defined in the Export Strategy of Ukraine were invited to participate in the trade mission. Participants of the mission had an opportunity to hold a B2B meetings with business representatives from the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries, to study the peculiarities of doing business and market opportunities of the UAE, as well as to get acquainted with the peculiarities of pricing in the food markets of the country.