USDA Trade Missions Resume, Apply Now for United Arab Emirates Mission

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 25, 2021 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in-person trade missions will resume early next year. The first trade mission is to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), February 16-21, 2022. The last USDA-sponsored trade mission was held in November 2019, prior to COVID-related travel restrictions. Dubai will offer U.S. exporters the perfect opportunity to return to overseas trade events, visit and engage directly with foreign buyers, and boost their export sales to the UAE and the surrounding region.

“As international travel and activities resume, we are excited to bring back in-person trade missions and to bring them back better than before,” said USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Administrator Daniel Whitley. “While the COVID-19 pandemic revealed some vulnerabilities in our food system, it also proved just how critical trade is to the global supply chain and to the future of American agriculture. As a result, we are focused on delivering more export opportunities to U.S. farmers, ranchers, and exporters, so they have access to more markets and more consumers, which will lead to greater profitability.”  

The USDA-sponsored trade mission to Dubai will focus on just that – providing more export opportunities while continuing to grow U.S. agricultural sales to the UAE, where U.S. agriculture and food exports averaged $1.2 billion annually for the last 5 years. The UAE boasts a growing consumer market and offers strong potential for U.S. exporters of dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables, tree nuts, beef and beef products, chocolate and cocoa products, snack foods, confectionary and baked goods, cereals, pasta, and food preparations. There is also increasing demand for agricultural commodities, including U.S. corn and soybean meal.  

Trade mission delegates will conduct business-to-business meetings with potential customers, receive in-depth market briefings from FAS and industry trade experts, and participate in site visits, including the annual Gulfood Show, and the Dubai Expo 2020.

The deadline to apply for the UAE trade mission is November 8. For more information, visit https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions or email trademissions@usda.gov.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.

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