Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE’s federal export credit agency (ECA), and French counterpart Bpifrance Assurance Export have signed a reinsurance agreement to support joint Emirati and French projects globally.
The agreement between the two state-owned firms will bolster the strong trade and economic cooperation between the UAE and France and boost exports in both countries by providing export insurance for Emirati and French companies, the Emirates News Agency reported.
Present at the signing ceremony were Massimo Falcioni, CEO of ECI; François Lefebvre, general manager of Bpifrance Assurance Export; and Pedro Novo, executive director in charge of export at Bpifrance.
Both ECAs will explore opportunities in insurance, reinsurance and co-insurance services for export of goods to third-party countries. They will also work together to identify companies that could benefit from the agreement and promote the agreement amongst existing and potential customers.
“The UAE and France have always shared exceptional trade relations, and, over the past years, these bilateral ties have witnessed a significant leap,” Falcioni said. “The new agreement comes as a sequel to the MoU that ECI and Bpifrance Assurance Export signed in June 2020 to explore, strengthen, and enhance the trade and economic cooperation between France and the UAE. This agreement underscores ECI’s commitment to consistently improve and create alliances to help provide much-needed incentives for businesses and exporters. This cooperation will go a long way in helping the UAE and French exporters gain access to international markets, protect their cash flows, and offer guarantees to their lenders, thus strengthening their presence on the global marketplace."
The UAE is France’s second-largest trade partner in the Middle East. Since 2007, the two nations have held annual meetings to strengthen the bilateral relations. Non-oil foreign trade between the countries stood at AED19.7 billion (SG$7.28 billion) in 2020, and the bilateral trade between Dubai and France grew to AED8.5 billion in the first half of 2021, according to data from the UAE Ministry of Economy.
"We are looking forward to strengthening our collaboration with ECI,” Novo said. “We believe this partnership will reinforce France’s commercial ties with the UAE and make a significant difference for our respective businesses, especially SMEs, by making it easier to access the wide range of export credit solutions offered by both ECAs.”
