Etihad Credit Insurance partners with Natixis to expand UAE businesses’ global footprint

The UAE's federal export credit company is teaming up with Natixis to educate businesses on risk. Reuters

The UAE's federal export credit company and a unit of France's second-largest banking group signed an agreement to expand UAE exporters’ global footprint as the Emirates seeks to diversify beyond oil.

Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI),  the federal agency tasked with helping exporters by protecting them from commercial and political risks, signed a a memorandum of understanding with French bank Natixis, ECI said on Wednesday. The agreement will cover educating UAE businesses on commercial and political risk mitigation, collaborating mutually in export finance solutions and sharing market information.

"The association with Natixis will pave the way for UAE businesses to forge ahead in line with the UAE Vision 2021 agenda as well as fuel the growth of country’s economy as a whole and export community in particular," said Saed Al Awadi, chief executive of Dubai Export Development Corporation and board member and chairman of the executive committee at ECI.

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The partnership comes amid the UAE's strategy to reduce its reliance on the oil sector as a source of economic activity and to focus on developing more diversified growth and trade activity. ECI, which was set up in February and started operations in October, expects to support at least $40 billion worth of exports and re-exports in the next three years, its chief executive Massimo Falcioni told The National this week.

ECI supports the export and re-export of UAE goods, services and the foreign investments of UAE businesses by providing a range of export credit, financing and investment insurance products.