Al Mutaiwee receives a representative sent by the President of the Republic of Benin

During the meeting, they discussed the economic bilateral relationship between the Republic of Benin and Dubai, as well as the possibilities of developing business projects and expanding the range of investment.

Umuhoza Sandra invited DCCI to send a delegation of businessmen to view closely several ideas and investment projects, three of which she presented during the meeting. One of these projects is to establish a factory for fresh pineapple juice, extracted directly from farms of " Allada " area located in the Atlantic Region, around 200 km far from Benin borders with Nigeria.

The second project is to establish and operate diary factories, to be located in the northern region of Benin, 700 km away from the Nigerian borders. As for the third project, involves setting up resorts on the Atlantic Ocean coasts.

It may be recalled that Benin, formerly known as Dahomey up until 1975, is geographically considered as a narrow strip of land stretching to the coast of Guinea, with an area of 113,000 km2. Benin is bordered by Niger & Burkina Faso to the north, to the east by Nigeria and to the west by Togo.

Benin became independent and liberated from France (named as Kingdom of Dahomey). The population of Benin is estimated at 6,000,000 inhabitants whose language is French; half of them are Muslims, it comprises the biggest mosque in West Africa and the radio broadcasting of "Voice of Islam".

During the meeting, the Director General of DCCI assured the necessity of providing enough information to the Emirate investors regarding the legal codes applied in Benin and related to trade, investment, motives and warrantees within the frame of political, economic and security stability.

Al Mutaiwee said: "the investors - in general - are not so enthusiastic to approach areas politically unstable, experiencing descent disturbances or national wars as it is prevailing in West Africa instantly, add to that the lack of communications, unavailability of suitable land roads and direct airways between UAE and the countries of that region.

Despite that, in DCCI we are still interested in the area, and we are investigating the possibilities of developing our efforts in that respect. Presently we are looking into setting up commercial and industrial exhibitions in Senegal, Niger and perhaps in Benin".

From her side, Umuhoza pointed out Benin's political stability, and mentioned the treaties and security protocols held between the People's Republic of Benin and UAE. She ascertained that her country is the largest market in West Africa.