Niger's Minister of Commerce visits DCCI

Some of these officials were H.E Alamin Hamadi Abdul Rahman, the Consul General of the Republic of Niger, Mr. Ibrahim Iddi Ango, the President of the Niger Chamber of Commerce and agriculture, Mr. Chaibou Laouali, Secretary General. The guests were received by Dr. Ahmad Saif Bel Hasa, a member of the executive board of DCCI, Mr. Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al Mutaiwee, the Director General of DCCI, as well as other Chamber officials.

The Minister of Commerce is the head of a delegation of 50 officials and businessmen from the Republic of Niger, visiting Dubai with the aim of consolidating trade and commercial relations between Niger and Dubai. Their timing is due to a prospect of a future participation in Dubai Shopping Festival.

The Minister thanked the Dubai Chamber for their continuous support throughout Niger's 3 years presence in Dubai, and emphasized their intent on strengthening this and further penetrating the local markets. He also requested help from DCCI in introducing the delegates to their counterparts of businessmen in Dubai. H.E also asked for the Chamber's help in clarifying the confusion people of the United Arab Emirates may have regarding Nigeria and Niger. He recalled an incident where the Consulate of Niger came under attack when some Nigerian residents attacked a bank in Dubai.

Dr. Bel Hasa welcomed his guests and thanked them for this important initiative to help strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries. He highlighted that the Dubai Chamber is planning to send delegations to Niger and the neighboring states, as well as to organize some exhibitions to promote UAE products in the West African region.

Regarding the confusion between Niger and Nigeria, Dr. Bel Hasa explained that the majority of UAE residents are well aware of the difference between the two countries, but that the DCCI will do its best to prevent any similar incidents.

Dr. Bel Hasa also assured that the Dubai Chamber is always prepared to help any trader or businessman who wants to meet his counterpart in Dubai, and pointed out that they have lists of all the companies in the different sectors. This information is also available on DCCI's website.

From his side, Mr. Al Mutaiwee said that Emirates Airlines have established a direct route between Dubai and Lagos, "Although Lagos is somewhat far from Niger, it is a positive step towards bolstering relations with the West African region".

"The volume of trade exchanged between our two countries does not reflect the many opportunities available in both countries. Of this reason, we should implement a mechanism to develop trade exchanged between Niger and Dubai" commented Mr. Al Mutaiwee. As a step towards this, the Director General encourraged Niger to establish a trade centre in Dubai. Mr. Al Mutaiwee suggested that they appoint a commercial attaché whilst they study plans to establish the trade centre.

The Minister of Commerce welcomed Mr. Al Mutaiwee's suggestions, and assured that they will definitely appoint the commercial attaché, and that they will seriously look into setting up the trade centre as it would give Niger access to the whole region.

The President of the Niger Chamber welcomed these initiatives saying "I've noticed that we have now started putting a real plan in place to develop our relationship". He went on to say that the time has come for them to decide on the time frame to implement the various initiatives they discussed.