Dubai Chamber to welcome Hamburg counterpart

The two-day event will take place on October 23 and 24 at the Chamber's Dubai Creek headquarters and will provide a platform for economic co-operation between the two cities. It is expected that upwards of 250 companies will be represented at the forum.

His Excellency Hamad Buamim, Director General of Dubai Chamber, said: "We are looking forward immensely to welcoming our counterparts from the Hamburg Chamber and promoting business between the two cities. The similarities between Dubai and Hamburg are such that this forum has a very 'natural' feel to it. This is an opportunity for two cities to share a single focus for the common advantage of fostering closer ties and developing trade."

Professor Dr. Schmidt-Trenz, Chief Executive Officer of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, said: "We are happy to see that Dubai Chamber is very active when it comes to new initiatives and projects aimed at strengthening business opportunities in our two regions. In the last couple of years the interest of our firms to do business in and with Dubai has increased markedly. Some of the largest Hamburg-based companies have opened their Middle East headquarters in Dubai. Massive concerns such as Beiersdorf, Eppendorf and Airbus all now have bases in Dubai.

"The Dubai-Hamburg Business Forum 2007 is one of the outstanding common projects, which, together with the students and teachers exchange programme between the University of Dubai and the HSBA-Hamburg School of Business Administration, aims to give Dubai and Hamburg the chance to explore new common business opportunities based on solid personal relations," added Schmidt-Trenz.

Dubai and Hamburg have much in common and this is the foundation for the joint venture of the forum. In terms of aviation, Hamburg is home to one of Airbus's two assembly plants while in Dubai, Emirates Airline awaits delivery of 55 of the Airbus A380 'super-jumbo' aircraft. Maritime issues are massive in both cities also, with Dubai Ports World long established as a global concern and Hamburg home to the second largest port in Europe. More than 500 German companies are registered with the Chamber to operate in the emirate and the value of trade between Dubai and Germany in 2006 was nearly dhs16 billion. The UAE is currently Germany's biggest trading partner in the Gulf.

The Dubai-Hamburg forum will be made up of discussion sessions on a number of sectors of importance to both cities, including Aerospace & Aviation; Banking and Finance; Solar Energy; Healthcare; Logistics & Foreign Trade, and Maritime.