Al Mansouri inaugurates first Emirates-UK Business Investment Opportunities Exhibition, showcasing 100 national companies

The event is organized by Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), the UAE Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Index for Exhibitions and Conferences Establishment. It is officially supported by the Ministries of Finance, Economy, Industry and Foreign Affairs, the UAE Embassy in the UK, and all other chambers of commerce in the UAE. It attracted a huge interest from the economic, cultural, educational and tourist activities from both countries.

The exhibition was inaugurated by His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Public Sector Development, with His Excellency Eisa Saleh Al Gurg, the UAE Ambassador to the UK, Baroness Barbara Simons, Member of the British House of Lords, representative of the British Government, as well as Abdullah Sultan Abdullah, Secretary General of the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Khamis Juma Buamim, Vice Chairman of Dubai Oil Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oil Regional Organization, and a delegation from the DCCI headed by Nuha Mohammed Safar, Director of Marketing and Communication Department, and Atiq Juma Nasib, Director of Business Development Department.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Mohammed Khamis Hareb, Operations Manager at the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and Abdul Salam Al Madani, Chairman of Index, the technical organizer of the exhibition.

His Excellency Sultan Al Mansouri stressed the historical relations between the UAE and the UK in his inaugural speech. He said this relation helped open doors to set up more joint ventures in both countries.

He said the UAE is expecting its GDP for 2006 to grow by 23% to reach AED 597 billion. He also talked about the inflation issue which reached to 5%, resulting because of the increasing prices of building and construction materials and the increasing demand for these materials by the UAE neighboring countries which are developing their infrastructures.

He added that the big influx of cash to the UAE has turned into an additional factor that helped in the rise of inflation, stressing that the solution may lie in having more investments.

"The UAE is planning to diversify its sources of income as well as its economic base, and that is clearly reflected in what the non-oil economic sectors have achieved last year, as the non-oil sectors contributions grew by 18.6% reaching AEC 312 billion, representing around 64% of the GDP in 2005," said Al Mansouri.

He pointed out that there are many mutual investments in both countries. He said "Emaar', one of the leading UAE national companies, is expected to grow by 30%, whereas the National Bank of Dubai by 70%, and the 'Ettihad' Real Estate to grow by 150% in the next few years.

"There are more than 225 British companies and over 900 commercial agencies operating in the UAE, and the UAE's total imports from the UK reached AED 14 billion, whereas the UAE's total exports to the UK hit AED 344 million, and the UAE's total re-exports to the UK reached AED 553 million."

Baroness Simons praised the outstanding development of the UAE and the strong economic ties between the UK and the UAE. She expressed her comfort that the UAE is working to rank the 10th position among the biggest commercial partners of the UK.

Nuha Safar, head of the DCCI delegation, stressed the importance of the exhibition which is reflected in the investment opportunities that could be explored and could help enhance the trade cooperation relations between the two countries.

"The UAE is working on having recognized strategic relations with the UK. The total value of trade of Dubai, including its free zones, reached AED 15.3 billion in 2004, as more than 1617 British companies are operating in Dubai, except for its free zones, and benefiting from the remarkable services that the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry is providing them to facilitate their businesses," said Safar.

She called upon British investors to establish new businesses and investments in different sectors in the UAE with the assistance from the Dubai Chamber. These sectors include education, healthcare, tourism, energy and real estate. "More than 1 million British tourists have visited the UAE last year," she added.

The Chairman of Index said that more than 100 UAE companies are participating in the Emirates-UK Business Investment Opportunities Exhibition. He expected the importance of this fair to be underlined through the big business contracts which are expected to be signed upon the conclusion of the fair, just like the contracts which were signed by the UAE companies in the recent Emirates-Germany Economic Partnership Forum which reached Euro 290 million.

A large number of government departments and companies from the UAE are taking part in this exhibition, in addition to the establishments of sectors of finance, real estate, information technology and free zones, as well as the UAE chambers of commerce, economic and tourist departments and Dubai Police. They also include Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Dubai Media City, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Islamic Bank, Damac, Dubai Maritime City, and others.

This exhibition is being held on an area of 4000 metres and is expected to be visited by more than 1000 businessmen, investors and decision makers from both countries.