According to MIT, the United Arab Emirates is the 29th largest export economy in the world and the 30th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI), making it diverse and therefore more resilient to global market vicissitudes. It has a population of 10.14 million people, with a relatively high per capita rate, making it a strong consumer market. 

Trading With Afghanistan

Afghanistan is one of the more difficult regional trade partners by virtue of a number of factors, not least: poor infrastructure, over twenty years of conflict and terrorist activity, mountainous terrain, extreme weather conditions and to some degree, being land locked, numerous environmental disasters. All of these issues have made Afghanistan one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2016, according to MIT, Afghanistan exported goods valued at $482M and imported $3.77B of goods and services, leaving a negative trade balance of $3.29B.

Chronic political instability and a lack of democratic structures of governance mean markets and communities struggle.  For this reason, Afghanistan is still largely regarded abroad as a mere transit country. Logistics infrastructure remains under-developed, with little private foreign investments in this sector.

In spite of these challenges, the local private sector is continuing to develop.  With a population of around 35 million, there are many people aspiring to a better lifestyle.  The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation develops strategy and planning of transport infrastructure. The government, with the support of allies, is undertaking various road, rail and air projects to facilitate better trade access.

Afghanistan borders China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  Given CIS partners emergence together with the proximity of the burgeoning markets of Iran and hotbed of trade in China, despite the many hurdles the country has to overcome, the future could be much stronger for Afghanistan and her trade partners.

Trading With E.U. rope (28 Members, including U.K.)

The E.U. ropean Union, has been described as the “world leader in exports and top market for 100 countries”.  Trade between the U.S.A. and the E.U. generates one-third of total goods and services traded and nearly half of global economic output.  Traditionally the E.U.  Member States have tended to trade goods with each other than with countries outside the E.U. , although there has been some change in recent years.

The E.U.-28 accounted for a 23.8 % share of the world’s GDP in 2014. This market is made up of a population of 743.1 million people, currently including U.K., however,  post Brexit in 2018, the region will have 66 million less people.

E.U. policymakers see the promotion of international trade as a key driver of economic growth and job creation within the E.U. ’s internal market according to E.U. roStat.

Services play a major role in competitive economies, particularly those that provide services to drivers of the economy, such: transport, communications and business services. International trade in services is key for some of the E.U.’s member states and increasingly are exports to developing nations, particularly in terms of construction related projects.

Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey have been generally peaceful in recent times, but sometimes they have also been strained, slowing trade.  Nevertheless, Iran and Turkey are major trade partners and each influences the other, due to their geographical proximity, linguistic and ethnic relations (e.g. Azerbaijanis, a Turkic people, are the second largest ethnicity in Iran).  They also share common cultural interests.

Turkey and Iran have in place a preferential trade agreement. There are over 3.7 billion dollars of export trade from Turkey to Iran, including such commodities as: iron, gold, steel, textiles and road vehicles.  Conversely, Iran’s exports to Turkey include: raw energy products, plastic products, plus metals and organic chemicals.