(WAM) — The value of Abu Dhabi non-oil foreign trade has reached AED80.23 billion through the emirate’s outlets during the first five months of 2020, the Abu Dhabi Customs has announced.

Exports value reached AED23.20 billion and the re-export value reached AED14.79 billion, while importation reached a static growth to be AED42.24 billion.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia retained the first place of most trading countries with Abu Dhabi during the first five months of this year, where trading between both countries has reached AED17.91 billion.

Pearl, precious stones, precious metals, and their manufactures topped the list of most exported non-oil goods with a value of AED6.27 billion during the first five months of this year, followed by common metals and their manufacture with a value of AED5.92 billion.

Transportation equipment was first on the re-export level with a value of AED5.59 billion, while machines, recording devices, and audio and visual broadcasting equipment came in first on the importation level at AED9.65 billion.

The number of custom transactions that were completed reached 434.647 through Abu Dhabi land, sea, and air outlets, which contribute to providing necessary community needs that are represented in food, medicine, and commodities.

General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi has qualified citizens who are highly skilled in customs work with all its various activities based on a sophisticated infrastructure which depends on digital and Artificial Intelligence to achieve numerous transactions that contribute to establishing speed and ease in finalising transactions consistently with Abu Dhabi’s vision for the future of the sector.

Saeed Saad Al Qahtani, Head of Khalifa Port Custom Centre, in his statements to Emirates News Agency, WAM, said that Khalifa Port Custom Centre had witnessed a growth in standard containers entry by about seven percent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. The Khalifa Port Custom Centre had received about 78,000 standard containers during the same period to meet the community’s necessary needs of commodities, food, and medicine, he added.

Customs Controller, Salem Hussein, told WAM that the Abu Dhabi Customs is continuing its efforts in protecting and educating its employees from controllers and inspectors who directly deal with goods and shipments by obliging everyone to use face masks, gloves, and clothes. All inspectors undergo regular COVID-19 tests to maintain the health and safety of those who directly deal with goods and shipments.

The value of non-oil goods trade is limited to goods that entered or exited the land, sea and air outlets of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, which means that these goods do not represent all of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil trade with the world as it does not include trade that was carried out through other outlets in the country.

In a related context, the Economic Stimulus Package, which was recently launched by the General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi to support importers and traders in the emirate contributed to enhancing the foreign trade movement of Abu Dhabi.

Also, the Bonded Warehouses System “Bonded Warehouses” that was launched by Abu Dhabi Customs last year, and which allows suppliers to store their received goods from abroad through border outlets without the need to pay customs duties; represented an important initiative which contributed in stimulating and encouraging trade and investors and attracting capital to the emirate.