Dubai Chamber receives Premier of Northern Cape Province in South Africa

The invitation was made during her visit to Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry today leading a high-ranking official delegation that included more than 50 ministers, officials, diplomats, businessmen, investors and representatives of major economic figures in South Africa.

The Premier and her accompanied delegation were received by H.E. Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, along with a number of the Chamber's Board of Directors, Director General, heads of departments and a number of top businessmen and investors in Dubai.

Al Tayer welcomed the Her Excellency stressing the importance of strengthening the diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries. He underlined the growing importance of Dubai which turns into an important regional business hub and a center that offers a gateway to markets of more than 2.2 billion consumers.

"Dubai's non-oil trade with South Africa reached AED 2 billion in 2006. The visit of the Premier to Dubai, and her delegation will certainly help increase the bilateral trade between the two counties, as well as the number of South African companies in the UAE, since there are 80 companies operating in Dubai,"

said Al Tayer.

He also spoke of the investment incentives in Dubai which enjoys a free market and free tax economy that helped the emirate's total foreign non-oil trade to rise by 9.15% reaching AED 523.5 billion in 2006, compared to AED 479.6 billion in 2005.

Al Tayer highlighted the crucial role played by Dubai Chamber in enhancing Dubai's strategic and economic importance through the services and facilities it provides to the business community. He expressed the Chamber's willingness to extend help to the South African businessmen in Dubai, asking the delegation to learn more about Dubai's investment opportunities and its mega projects.

H.E. Dipuo Elizabeth Peters, Premier of the Northern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa, praised the diplomatic and economic ties her country enjoys with Dubai and the UAE in general, and her interest to strengthen these ties. She hailed the outstanding economic development of Dubai which set itself as a model.

Her Excellency pointed out that the visit aims at activating the bilateral economic relations between the two countries and attracting UAE investors to explore business opportunities in the Northern Cape Town province in South Africa which offers them several encouraging business incentives. Her Excellency noted that her accompanied delegation will discus several issues regarding the enhancement of trade relations between both countries, as well as promoting the available opportunities of investment in South Africa.

The South African delegation held several B2B meetings with their UAE counterparts through which they learned about the requirements of setting up new businesses at Dubai free zones.