Third trimester sees tight agenda for Spanish companies

Supported by the Spanish Embassy´s Commercial Office, the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and a wide range of local chambers of commerce and trade associations, the coming months will witness Spanish companies adopting a high profile in the UAE.

Different kind of commercial initiatives will be in place, with direct trade missions accounting for the lion´s share of the total. These will be combined with reverse trade missions in which representatives from the UAE market will have the chance to get a first-hand glimpse into the Spanish industry and activity sectors. Besides, special events such as seminars, conferences and food & beverage tastings will also be held.

Taking part in the expanding UAE trade shows will continue to be one of the pillars of the Spanish approach to the local market. Therefore, efforts will be made to enhance and enlarge the Spanish performance in key trade shows, displaying participations in exhibitions like Cityscape, Gitex, Adipec, the Big 5 Show or Index. Key industrial and commercial associations from Spain will lead and organize the Spanish delegations in the UAE trade fairs, with full support from the Spanish Embassy.

Growing participation in exhibitions like Cityscape or The Big 5 Show reflects the growing status of the Spanish civil work and engineering sector in the UAE. At the same time, provision of Spanish building machinery and materials has also contributed, achieving a considerable performance in the first five months of 2008, hitting $85 m and $50.5 m respectively. At the same time, Spanish participation in Adipec will be the largest to date, more than doubling that of last edition, whereas INDEX will have a big Spanish delegation once again, as Spanish furniture exports and textiles to the UAE hit $153.1m in 2007.

Trade missions

Direct trade missions will be the most habitual promotional instrument used by the Spanish Commercial Office throughout the fourth quarter. Totalling 10 delegations to the UAE, trade missions in the last trimester will cover a wide range of economic, commercial and industrial activities. Diverse sectors like ironmongery, fruits & vegetables, tool-making, wood works and urban equipment will be represented by delegations organized by Spanish specialized associations.

Apart from these, several chambers of commerce from different Spanish regions will also arrive to the UAE. Delegates from the regions of Madrid, Ourense, Asturias, Cantabria and Valladolid will hold meeting with UAE potential partners, showcasing a multidisciplinary array of regional exporters.

Three reverse commercial missions are being organized by different Spanish institutions. The first of them will take place at the Alicante Toy Fair in southeast Spain in the first week October. At the end of the same month, representatives from the UAE industry will be invited to participate in Matelec, the Spanish International Salon for electric and electronic materials. In November, the northern city of San Sebastián will host a congress on Spanish gourmet gastronomy, which will also be attended by UAE-based chefs, entrepreneurs and journalists.

Spanish fashion, a major source of exports with global names like Zara, Mango or Massimo Dutti, will have its own space in a special event to be celebrated in Dubai in October. This big exhibition, called Moda Española, will share Spanish fashion business-model with key representatives from the UAE fashion retail sector. Among them, groups like Nakheel´s fashion division, Azadea Group, Almaya Group and Liwa have already confirmed their assistance. This may result in more Spanish fashion brands opening stores across the Gulf malls, where they have already reached a firm presence.

This diversified promotional approach is expected to maintain the positive trends harvested by Spanish exports to the UAE since the slight decline recorded at the end of 2007. Some of the latest data available showed a remarkable growth, with May´s figures standing at $185.7 m, one of the highest ever reached by Spanish companies in the UAE.