DUBAI: Dubai will never sever trade ties with neighbor and major trade partner Iran, a senior Dubai economy official said Wednesday, as pressure on Tehran to curb its uranium enrichment drive keeps mounting. The United Arab Emirates, to which Dubai belongs, has signalled it will rein back its role as a trading and financial lifeline for Iran after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June over accusations it is developing a nuclear bomb. “It's never an option to end trade with Iran,” Sami Al-Qamzi, director general of Dubai's Department of Economic Development, told reporters on the sidelines of an event. Asked what effect sanctions would have on Dubai's economy, he said: “There will be a weight, there will be an impact, but we hope that through negotiations we'll come to a solution to reduce the negative impact.” “This is a federal issue, the UAE will comply with all the resolutions...,” he said. Talks between Iran and a representative of the six major powers - the United States, France, Russia, Britain, China and Germany - are due to resume next week in Geneva in the first such meeting in more than year. Tehran rejects the charge it is seeking to develop nuclear bombs. Separately, Qamzi told reporters that Dubai's economy was expected to grow 3-3.5 percent in 2011, while inflation should remain at or below 4 percent. “We are forecasting 3 to 3.5 percent growth in 2011,” he said, adding: “This year it is around 4 percent and we hope that inflation will stay or be less than 4 percent.” Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy Tuesday announced the completion of a gas pipeline across the United Arab Emirates with a capacity of 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Dolphin has reached the third and last construction milestone on the Taweelah-Fujairah Pipeline (TFP) project with capacity of 1.6 billion standard cubic feet (45 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day, it said. The 244-kilometer (151-mile) pipeline from Al-Taweelah near Abu Dhabi to the northern emirate of Fujairah aims to “meet the requirements of Dolphin's largest customer, the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC).” The pipeline built by Russian firm Stroytransgaz “will deliver essential volumes of natural gas to Fujairah.
