(Washington, D.C.) – The U.S. Commercial Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Defense Trade Mission to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) concluded a series of substantive meetings with key American and Emirati government officials and local commercial authorities in Abu Dhabi this week.

The delegation was hosted by the Offset Program Bureau (OPB), a U.A.E. government agency established in 1992 under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the U.A.E. Armed Forces, to enforce the country’s offset policy, at the Emirates Palace Hotel.

The Honorable Michael H. Corbin, U.S. Ambassador to the U.A.E., and a team of senior staff from the U.S. Embassy welcomed the delegation of American defense companies to the U.A.E. and provided an in-depth overview of the U.S.-U.A.E. relationship for the group.

“The dynamic growth of the U.A.E.’s commercial defense sector provides an excellent opportunity for U.S. companies to contribute positively to the overall relationship between the two countries,” said Danny Sebright, President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council. “ Moreover, increasing trade and commerce between the U.S. and U.A.E. in the commercial defense sector will directly create American jobs at home.”

Following the briefings from the U.S. Embassy, representatives from OPB provided the delegation with information about the U.A.E.’s offset policy and clarified the framework of the OPB’s processes relevant to U.S. businesses looking to build a larger presence in the local defense industry, including defense manufacturing. The senior officials underscored the objective of the country’s offset policy to create new value for the U.A.E. economy as it diversifies away from its dependence on oil.

Matar Ali Al Romaithi, Director of the Offset Program for the Offset Program Bureau (front center), is joined by Danny Sebright, President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council (front right), and members of the U.S. Commercial SME Defense Trade Mission to the U.A.E. delegation at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

“The briefings and meetings with senior OPB officials provided the delegates with the opportunity to learn about the U.A.E.’s offset policy directly from the policy-makers and to engage them about the future of the U.A.E.’s commercial defense industry,” said Sebright.

The delegation visited Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Military City for a tour of Tawazun and its subsidiaries’ facilities.  After the tour, the delegation went to the Armed Forces Officer’s Club for a lunch and briefings from Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS), Advanced Military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Center (AMMROC), Al Taif Technical Services, and International Golden Group (IGG).

The trade mission was supported by the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, and the Trade & Commercial Office of the Embassy of the U.A.E. in Washington, D.C.