UAE accused of exploiting poor countries

May 29, 2022 News

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– expresses interest in heading to Guyana

Kaieteur News – In recent years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has positioned itself as one of the world’s fastest developing gold trade hubs, however, its strategy have been criticised as it is accused of exploiting poor countries, particularly the ones located in Africa, South America and South Asia.
According to an ENACT observer report, Mali is labelled as West Africa’s hub for illegal gold trade with Dubai. ENACT observer publishes original analysis related to transnational organised crime in Africa.
In an article on Mali, ENACT stated that the country needs to strengthen its domestic responses to trade discrepancies that enable illicit gold trading in West Africa. It was also stated that the discrepancies in the metal’s production and trade statistics between Mali and Dubai in the UAE expose a massive illegal trade, particularly in the artisanal mining sector.
Notably, according to the report, this not only results in billions of dollars of lost revenue to affected countries but also fuels conflict through the illegal financing of violent extremism.
In 1996, the UAE was not among the world’s top one hundred gold-importing countries but some two decades later, the UAE was ranked among the top four, above Hong Kong and the United States.
The UAE’s rank was allegedly accomplished by imposing minimal restrictions on imports, to which little or no proof of origin is required, and no questions are asked as to whether taxes have been paid to countries that have produced the imported merchandise. Mali is one of those countries, and it is Africa’s third-largest producer of gold.
ENACT reported that a third of Mali’s total production is estimated to come from artisanal mining.
The UAE is known for importing gold from more than one hundred countries, located in Africa, South America, or South Asia.
Notably, the countries the UAE import gold from are less likely to be engaged in traditional large-scale gold mining, as many are better known for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).
It was explained that in 2016, the country exported 67 tonnes of gold valued at US$2.2 billion – of that, 46.9 tonnes were mined by industrial producers, with the remaining 20.1 tonnes extracted through artisanal means.
However, in that year, the UAE imported US$1.52 billion in gold from Mali, while Bamako, the capital of Mali only recorded US$216 million in exports.
Similarly, in 2014, Mali declared a gold production of 45.8 tonnes against the UAE’s import from Mali of 59.9 tonnes.
Moreover, Mali applies export taxes to only the first 50 kg of gold exported per month; this makes it a magnet for the illegal gold trade in a region that lacks a regional tax coordination framework. In fact, it provides an incentive for West African gold smugglers to sell their gold in Mali for a large tax break.
UAE economy has been reinforced by oil, real estate, and tourism but now gold has become one of the largest exports for the emirate state of Dubai.
Travellers flock Dubai every year as it is admired for the world’s tallest skyscraper, vast shopping malls, gold souks and so forth.
On the local front, earlier this year, during a visit to the UAE, President Irfaan Ali discussed critical opportunities for food security investments with Emirates Future Group.
The Emirati Group is one of the largest Emirati companies working to achieve food security globally. In light of the company’s inherent drive and purpose, the engagement was therefore seen by the Head of State as being in line with the vision of Guyana and in keeping with the need for building a strategic relationship with the UAE.
At the meeting, the investment opportunities available in the Republic of Guyana were discussed, and many promising opportunities were reviewed, which in turn would achieve the vision of the Republic of Guyana and the UAE in the field of joint food security for the two countries.
It should be noted that the Emirates Future Group is seeking to increase its presence in Caribbean countries.
In fact, Kaieteur News had reported that they have expressed interest and optimism in investing in Guyana in the fields of red meat and trade of livestock and related fields, starting with raising livestock on farms, building and managing slaughterhouses and logistics services, all the way to the stage of red meat reaching consumers.
The Office of the President had stated that the Emirates Future Group has decades of experience in the field of food security, in addition to its vast capabilities in supplying the countries of the world with basic food stuffs.
This is the first installment in a series of articles. Next week we detail what the UAE did in some poor countries.

 

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