Ukraine expects an increase in the presence of companies from the United Arab Emirates in Ukraine, said head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak during an online meeting of the Ukrainian-Emirates Coordination Council in the format of a video conference on Thursday.

According to the official website of the President's Office, in furtherance of the agreements reached during the official visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the United Arab Emirates, a meeting of the Ukrainian-Emirati Coordination Council was held in the format of a video conference. "I am pleased that we are holding the first constituent meeting of the Coordination Council less than two weeks after the visit. This is a confirmation of the great importance of our cooperation," the Head of the Office of the President emphasized.

He reminded that during the talks the leadership of the two countries identified food security, investment, military-technical cooperation, cooperation in the field of lending, IT and cybersecurity as the main areas of interaction. "In general, we expect an increase in the presence of Emirati companies in Ukraine. We believe that we have all the necessary conditions for this: state guarantees for large investors, transparent legislation, large enterprises ready for privatization," Yermak noted.

According to him, it is, in particular, about attracting investment from the UAE in sea and river ports, roads, railways and aviation.

In her turn, Head of the Emirati party at the Ukrainian-Emirati Coordination Council Mariam Al-Muhairi also noted that "today's discussion provides an opportunity to start a new stage of cooperation between our countries." "Our goal is to increase the level of non-oil trade between our countries 10 times, from $806 million to $8 billion," she said, noting that the roadmap for achieving this goal is designed for five years.

Among the areas of investment interesting to the UAE, she named energy, consumer goods, automotive and food industries.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Head of the Office of the President Yulia Svyrydenko, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President Tymofiy Mylovanov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko, Head of the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov, Chairman of the State Property Fund Dmytro Sennychenko, Director General of Ukroboronprom Yuriy Husev, Deputy Minister of the Interior Tetiana Kovalchuk, representatives of the relevant sectors from the Emirati party.