Dubai-Hamburg Business Forum opens in Germany

The business forum organized by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in association with Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry has around 220 businessmen including 160 from Germany and a 60-member Dubai delegation attending the two-day event concluding on Friday with a site trip.

Based on the success of the first business forum held in Dubai last October, the forum this time focuses on providing a platform for establishing contacts and exchanging ideas, technical expertise and experiences between the Dubai and Hamburg business communities and to identify future research trends and emerging issues in the areas of logistics, medical, renewable energy, finance and information technology.

HE Hisham Abdullah Al Shirawi, 2nd Vice Chairman and HE Eng Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, who led the Dubai delegation of prominent businessmen and speakers from important economic sectors, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in order to foster closer ties and strategic partnership between the business communities of the two regions.

In view of the geographical importance of the two cities and their reputation of being strategic global trading hubs, the MoU allows the two sides to work closely together to achieve their common goals and to enhance their business interests in the coming years by organizing a sector-related one-day meetings in the form of a Hamburg Evening in Dubai and vice-versa where a small delegation from either side will participate and catch up on all relevant projects and economic developments in the host city.

On the education front, the University of Dubai, operating under the umbrella of Dubai Chamber, and the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA), operating under the umbrella of the Hamburg Chamber agreed to implement the Cooperation Agreement existing between the two by increasing the exchange of lecturers and students alongside a supporting programme giving insights into the cultural, political and economic environment of the host school in the years to come as the Hamburg Chamber will present a list of at least 10 Hamburg-based firms where Dubai students will be able to work during their stay in Hamburg.

Under the agreement, the Hamburg and Dubai Chambers will cooperate in promoting the use of commercial arbitration in disputes between businesses of the two countries whenever appropriate as both parties agreed to translate their arbitration rules into the partner's language and to publish them on their websites with links to information about the Court of Arbitration and the arbitration rules of the partner organization.

Both the Chambers will also grant each other assistance in terms of recommending persons of suitable experience and integrity to be considered for appointment as arbitrators. The signatories will mutually assist their partners in obtaining information, publications and advice on national arbitration laws and invite their partner to international arbitration conferences that they organise.

The two sides also agreed to cooperate in the field of healthcare by organising an annual meeting between companies represented by the two institutions which should be coordinated with the visits by the Hamburg delegation to the Arab Health exhibition. The first meeting is scheduled to take place next month.

Additionally, on the occasion of Arab Health, the Hamburg and Dubai Chambers agree to jointly organise small sector-related workshops on specific topics of common interest and offer their business representatives a further platform for discussion and networking. The workshops will take place at Dubai Chamber.

HE Eng Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, said that this second business forum proves that the trade ties between Dubai and Hamburg has taken a quantum leap as this event has grown into a complete and comprehensive economic programme. "The Dubai Hamburg Business Forum comes as part of the Chamber's commitment to provide world-class services to its members and to promote Dubai as an international trading hub. I am very hopeful of the event turning out to be yet another success story."

The panel discussion had Khaled Al Kamda, Group Managing Director and CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Dr Belaid Rettab, Senior Executive Director, Economic Research and Business Development Sector, Dubai Chamber, and Olaf Meuser, Managing Director, Head of Region Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein, Deutsche Bank AG, Germany and Professor Hans-Jorg Schmidt-Trenz, CEO, Hamburg Chamber, talking about finance and banking in the wake of the global financial crisis and its effect on the GCC and European economies.

Another panel that spoke on Healthcare and Life Sciences included by Dr. Haidar Al Yousuf, Chief of Sector Accountability and Performance, Dubai Health Authority, UAE, Eng. Yahya Bin Saeed Al Lootah, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, S.S. Lootah Group, Dr. Christoph U. Herborn, Representative of the Board for Process Management, University Medical, Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, and Manfred Kuhlmann, Non-Executive Director, Avicenna, UAE.

The post-lunch session of Logistics & Foreign Trade saw John Ewing, Chief Commercial Officer, Dubai Maritime City, UAE, Mohsen Ahmad Al-Awadhi, General Manager, Dubai Logistics City, UAE, Stefan W. Dircks, Managing Director, Terramar GmbH, Germany and Dierk Reumann, Managing Director, Hamburg Port Consulting, Germany, speaking about the logistics challenges for Dubai and Hamburg.

Saeed Khoory, Group Chief Executive, Emirates National Oil Company Ltd (ENOC), Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower, UAE, and Thomas Richterich, Chairman of the Board, Nordex AG, Germany, discussed the perspectives for co-operation between Hamburg and Dubai in the area of renewable energy.

The panel on Media and IT weighed the options for Dubai to adopt Hamburg's know-how and long-lasting expertise in this area and was discussed by Abdullatif Al Sayegh, CEO, Arab Media Group, UAE, Ahmad Al Shaikh Chairman, Dubai Printing & Publishing, UAE, Tewe Pannier, Publisher, DVV Media Middle East, UAE, and Uwe Jens Neumann, Managing Director, HWF Hamburg Business Development Corporation.