Yemeni President visits Jebel Ali Free Zone, Palm Jumeirah

President Saleh, who is currently visiting the UAE, also toured the iconic Palm Jumeirah Island, which is being developed by Nakheel, a unit of Dubai World.

Welcoming the Yemeni leader, Mr Bin Sulayem said: "The UAE in general and Dubai in particular enjoy very good and fraternal relations with Yemen, based on mutual respect and cooperation."

The Dubai World Chairman briefed President Saleh on the holding company's activities and said: "Dubai World has become one of the world's leading holding companies and has 48 companies spread across 100 countries in five continents. More than 50,000 people are employed by our group companies.

"These companies are specialized in ports and marine services free zones management and logistics, real estate development, finance and investment, hospitality, leisure, retail and commodities.

"DP World, our flagship company, is one of the world's major ports operators with more 52 terminals across 30 countries with combined total of 40 Million TEU capacity in 2006 with a growth potential of 50 per cent in the next three years."

DP World is currently in the process of developing ten ports and terminals around the world.

The Yemeni leader was also briefed on the new master plan to expand Jebel Ali Port, considered the biggest seaport between Rotterdam and Singapore with 8.9 million TEU handled in 2006. "This capacity will increase to 13 million TEU per year by 2010," Mr. Bin Sulayem disclosed.

JAFZA, which as the region's premier logistics hub caters to the needs of more than one billion people, also witnessed tremendous expansion throughout last year.

The number of companies that operate from JAFZA has increased to 6,000, 140 out of them have been included in the Fortune 500 List.

The newly-launched Economic Zones World (EZW) runs a number of free zones around the world, such as Port Klang in Malaysia, Tangiers in Morocco and Djibouti City in Djibouti.

Mr Bin Sulayem pointed out: "Dubai Dry Docks, which repaired more than 5,000 ships last year, have been awarded the Lloyd's Register Best Ship Repair & Shipyard Award and is today considered to be the premier ship repair yard between Europe and the Far East. We are now building a new dock that covers an area of 227 hectares in Dubai Maritime City."

The Yemeni President was also given a detailed presentation on the path-breaking real estate development projects undertaken by Nakheel, including the five waterfront projects that will add more than 1,500 km of shoreline to Dubai, compared to the current coastline of 67 km, and provide residence for more than 1.5 million people over 15 years.

Limitless, another Dubai World entity, is engaged in ten property development projects around the world.