DED hosts Industrial Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange seminar to strengthen industry networking

Representatives from several industrial corporations and establishments in Dubai attended the seminar organised under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Mohammad Khalfan Bin Khirbash, Minister of State for Finance and Industry (MoFI), at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

An initiative by UNIDO, SPX has been specifically designed to boost technical information systems and networking potential to facilitate production linkage between small, medium and large manufacturing firms. It is a matching mechanism that brings together main contractors and subcontractors.

"The Department of Economic Development seeks to enhance the growth of the industrial sector, which is regarded as one of the key components in building a stable economy by attracting foreign investment and improving the overall investment climate of Dubai," said Mr. Khalid Al Kassim, Deputy Director General for Planning and Development at DED. "The department is keen to provide industrialists with a high level of value added services in addition to offering them consultation, and ensuring that all their needs for basic services are met."

"DED signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting last year to provide the best of services to industrialists in Dubai and the industrial sector in the UAE. The MoU includes establishing a Subcontracting, Partnership and Exchange function in Dubai, which aims at strengthening the capacity of small and medium industries (SMI) to encourage import substitution and promote exports of manufactured goods,"

added Mr. Al Kassim.

"Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting signed an agreement with UNIDO for establishing a subcontracting facility in its premises. This subcontracting facility has focal points in each of the GCC countries, one of them due in the Ministry of Finance in the United Arab Emirates. Due to the Dubai's various industrial bases and importance in trade and investment, the emirate will have its private focal point positioned in the Department of Economic Development," said Mr. Ahmed Hasan Dhaif, Assistant Secretary General for Information Technology, GOIC.

"The Organization will provide necessary support for the creation of the subcontracting function, which will be linked to some 60 subcontracting and partnership exchanges established by UNIDO in more than 30 countries worldwide. As a result, participating SMIs will have access to the global market and global production systems to promote their industrial products and services in national and international markets," added Mr. Dhaif.

The objective of SPX is to reinforce the capacity of local industries to increase their production, to upgrade their technological processes and products and to improve their international competitiveness. SPX contributes to finding new investment opportunities through linkage between different industries, which will result in value addition and increase in export opportunities, thus coping with international industrial development.

SPX focuses on five sectors for subcontracting - Metalworking, Plastics, Rubber, Electrical and Electronics and industrial services. In the GCC region, petrochemicals and desalination sectors will receive added priority.

A team from Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting recently trained a group of DED's staff on SPX as part of the MoU signed last year.