DUBAI, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an open economy supports the liberalization of global trade and opposes protectionism, a senior UAE trade official said Monday.

Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary for foreign trade at the UAE Ministry of Economy, made the remarks while briefing the media about the upcoming 8th Annual Investment Meeting to be held on April 9-11 in Dubai.

Al Saleh said "the UAE has always lobbied for more trade liberalization by supporting measures to remove obstacles for global trade, but also on a bilateral level."

He was commenting on the recent U.S. moves to impose tariffs on foreign goods, triggering off widespread fears about igniting a trade war with major countries, including China.

Removing trade obstacles "is part of the unified trade policy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)," of which the UAE is a member, Al Saleh said.

"An open economy is the best policy to attract investments and to increase the competitiveness of the UAE economy and it better for future trade relations, hence we do not think that protectionism will lead to prosperity in the national, regional and global economy," Al Saleh said.

He pointed out that the UAE has over 40 free zones for all industry sectors, which have been set up to attract foreign investments.

The UAE officials reiterated that his country welcomes all foreign investors.

China remained the top trade partner of the UAE for three straight years in a row from 2014 to 2016, during which the total China-UAE trade amounted to 520.6 billion dirhams (about 141.74 billion U.S. dollars), according to the UAE Ministry of Economy.