The study attributes the limited effect on trade with Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen “to many reasons, most important of which was that the volume of UAE’s trade exchange with all of these countries accounted for less than 2% of the its total foreign trade in 2010,” MoFT said in an emailed press release on the study. “The UAE’s foreign trade – with the five countries combined – grew by only 1% from 2009 to 2010, even though the UAE’s overall foreign trade structure grew by 14% during the same period. In comparison with the last quarter of 2010, trade with these five countries decreased in the first quarter of 2011 by 32%, or AED 1.3 billion. The UAE’s total foreign trade achieved a 33% growth of AED 56.8 billion to reach AED 228.4 billion during the same period, which is 45 times higher than the reduction seen in trade with the five countries. This shows a little effect of decreasing trade with the five countries has had on the UAE,” the press release added. UAE’s volume of trade with the five countries combined amounted to AED 14.4 billion, accounting for less than 2% of the country’s total foreign trade in 2010. AED 7.86 of the amount was in the form of imports, AED 2.7 in the form of exports and AED 3.78 were re-exports, according to the study. The study also revealed that as a result of the decrease in trade exchange, Libya was downgraded to the 31st position on the list of the UAE’s largest trade partners, followed by Egypt which ranked 34th, Yemen 42nd, Syria 73rd, and Tunisia 87th. Libya suffered the greatest setback in trade with the UAE in the first quarter of 2011 in comparison with the last quarter of 2010, followed by Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Syria respectively. The study was conducted by Dr. Abdul Hamid Radwan, an economic specialist at the Ministry’s Analysis and Trade Inform Department.