Dubai Chamber, Texas to strengthen trade ties

During the business matching meeting held at the Chamber premises, Al Ghurair welcomed the delegation and apprised them about the growth of Dubai accrediting the emirate's success to the leadership that has made 'something out of nothing'.

"Thanks to the vision of the leaders, Dubai today is a central trading hub for the region as the emirate retains 25% of the imports and re-exports 75% to its trading partners like Iran, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and East Africa," he said adding, "Dubai's outreach is very extensive as the dhows going out of Dubai reach to the remotest towns and villages in the far corners of the world. We appreciate your coming here and assure you of all possible help to do business with the emirates".

Al Ghurair informed the visitors of establishing direct contacts with the Chamber and the Ministry of Economy as he said that Dubai's strategic location makes it a meeting point for East and West thus offering a great business opportunity to everyone.

He also said Dubai's sea and air ports are well equipped to handle large volumes of cargo and the emirate is connected with multiple flights daily to New York, Houston, Los Angeles etc and called upon the visitors to establish stronger business ties with this fast growing international business hub.

HE Phil Wilson put across his appreciation of the country's hospitality and was all praise for Dubai's growth which he found 'quite amazing'.

The Texas Secretary of State informed that his state is also a major export center as its export figures for last year stood at $168bn. "We have a long trading history and been doing well in the areas of oil and gas, real estate and health care. Trade is very important to us and we are always looking out for meeting new friends and working on joint ventures. We look forward to establish trade ties with the over 100,000 members of Dubai Chamber as Texas and Dubai can work jointly in several areas of mutual interest".

Meanwhile, Nizar Sardast, General Advisor, and Hassan Al Hashemi, Director, External Relations, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, received an Italian delegation from Naples Chamber headed by HE Michele Lomuto, Chamber Counselor and President of Proteus, the special agency of the chamber responsible for the SME's, and Dr Ferdinando Fiore, Italian Trade Commissioner, Trade Promotion Section, Italian Embassy in the UAE. The meeting focused on the setting up of a permanent desk in Dubai for the promotion of Naples products.

Sardast spoke in length about Dubai Chamber's services and assured the Naples Chamber delegates in extending all possible help in opening up a representative office in Dubai.

He informed the visitors that there are already two Italian Trade Commission Offices in Dubai one of which is located at the Italian Embassy while there are four MoUs and Agreements of Cooperation signed between Dubai Chamber and the Italian business groups including the Italian-Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Presaro-Urbino Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Venito Region and the FIEI Federitalia Export Import.

On its part, Dubai Chamber is keen to cooperate with all the Italian business groups working under the umbrella of the Chamber and is more than willing to welcome the Naples Chamber of Commerce & Industry to its fold and help the newcomers set up an office here.

Sardast assured the delegates that the Chamber's doors were always open for any kind of advice and assistance needed by the Naples Chamber.

The Italian side informed the Chamber officials that the opening up of a representative office will help their members to market their products and have their presence felt in the emirate. They said that each territory has its own character and Naples has its own characteristic as far as its products and business tactics are concerned.

The delegation also apprised the hosts about the membership to Naples Chamber which they said was compulsory for the over 2,60,000 enterprises most of which are SMEs that produce consumer goods, high-tech fashion, agri-food and engineering products.

Presently, there are 155 Italian companies operating in Dubai and the emirate's non-oil trade with Italy reached Dhs15bn in 2007 while its import with the country registered Dhs14.2bn and export-re-export reached Dhs795m.

Italy ranked No 12 in a list of Dubai's trade partners in 2006.

A total of 680 Certificates of Origin were issued by Dubai Chamber in 2007 for goods totaling Dhs599.5m.

Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the UK.

This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with 20% unemployment.

Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates.