Dubai Chamber discusses strengthening trade ties with Korean Chamber of Commerce & Industry

They discussed ways to improve mutual trade relations through arranging bilateral meetings between businessmen from both countries and benefiting from the investment opportunities available in Dubai and Korea in construction, engineering, IT, energy and manufacturing sectors.

Al Ghurair received a high-ranking Korean trade delegation led by Yeol and included representatives of 20 major Korean companies who showed interest in learning about the aspects of economic development in Dubai. Al Ghurair pointed out the growing economic relations between Dubai and Korea, mainly after Dubai Chamber has led the UAE business delegation who accompanied His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to South Korea last May.

"The visit of the KCCI delegation is a new step towards activating cooperation and bilateral economic partnership between Dubai and Korea, following the positive results of Sheikh Mohammed's visit to Korea and the mutual agreements signed by both chambers, as well as the discussions of increasing visits exchange of trade delegations," said Al Ghurair.

Dubai Chamber's 1st Vice-Chairman briefed the Koreans about Dubai's economic development stressing the Emirate's keen commitment to develop its infrastructure and create favorite business environment to turn into an international business and tourism hub that attracts foreign direct investments to its various economic clusters such as Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media, City, Dubai Logistics City, Dubai Healthcare City, Jebel Ali Free Zone and a large number of giant development projects such as Dubai World Central which is the biggest driver of attraction of foreign direct investments.

He highlighted the government support to the public and private sectors in Dubai, as Dubai recording a 9% rise in its non-oil foreign trade in 2006 reaching Dhs523bn ($143bn), compared to Dhs480bn ($130bn) in 2005.

"The active cooperation between Dubai Chamber and the Korean commercial representative offices in Dubai will largely contribute to attracting more Korean companies to the region. More than 122 Korean companies are currently operating in Dubai and registered at Dubai Chamber, whereas Dubai's non-oil foreign trade with Korea reached Dhs13.3bn ($3.6bn)," said Al Ghurair.

He also talked about the leading role of Dubai Chamber in underlining the strategic importance of Dubai as an international business hub in this region, as well as the outstanding services provided by the Chamber to its members whose number surged to over 100,000 so far. He stressed Dubai Chamber's assistance to members and businessmen to help them to explore new worthy investment opportunities and to establish economic partnerships with their overseas counterparts.

HE Kim Sang-Yeol, Vice-Chairman of Korean Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), praised the strong economic ties between Dubai and Korea, stressing his government continuous interest to strengthen these ties through exchanging visit of trade delegates and organising economic forums.

"Our visit to Dubai Chamber aims at closely introducing our members to the aspects of Dubai's economic development and its mega projects, and to meet with Dubai investors and businessmen to discuss potential cooperation," said Yeol.

Korean ranks 12 among the countries which have strong direct trade relations with Dubai. Dubai's major imports from Korea include machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles, transportation means, textiles, and prepared foodstuff, whereas Dubai's exports and re-exports to Korea include base metals, machinery, stones, cement, ceramics and glass.

Korea's GDP reached $1.9 trillion in 2006, with services sector covering 52% of GDP. Since the sixties of the last century, Korea recorded high rates of growth and integration into the high-tech modern world economy. In 2004, Korea joined the trillion dollar club of world economies.