More than 100 businessmen from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and more than 200 businessmen from the Armenian side have assembled today at the Armenian-Emirati business forum; this is the largest Armenian-Emirati business forum that has taken place in the last 25 years. Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told this to reporters before the start of the aforesaid event Monday.

According to him, this is a response to the developing economic relations that Armenia has today with its partners in the UAE.

"Last year, the trade between Armenia and the UAE exceeded $1 billion. The UAE became one of Armenia's three international trade partners, along with Russia and China. According to the data of the first seven months of this year, the trade amounted to $870 million, which is three times higher than the indicator of the same period of the previous year," said Kerobyan.

He emphasized that Armenia's economic relations with the UAE are developing in the financial domain, as well as in investments, real estate, trade, industry, culture, health care, and tourism.

"You know that last week during the visit of [Armenian FM] Ararat Mirzoyan to the UAE, an agreement was signed that cancels the requirement of [entry] visas, which is important for us from the point of view of both inbound and outbound tourism. The UAE is a preferred destination for Armenian tourists, becoming more accessible and affordable; we believe the same is true in the opposite direction," Kerobyan noted.

"We see a lot of untapped potential, and this business forum is of great importance to us. Now a number of big projects are being discussed. There is a large investment program in the real estate sector, in the tourism sector, in the healthcare sector. There are quite a lot of them, and I believe that after this business forum they will increase even more because we know that there are interesting plans," said the Armenian minister of economy.