Second UAE trade show in India sees strong participation of DTCM

The event which took off on December 15 at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai, India, concluded today.

The strong participation by the DTCM, saw the support of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) & the Public Corporation of Ports, Customs and Free Zones, in its aim to progressively strengthen UAE-Indo trade and economic links.

According to DTCM Officer Overseas Promotions, Mr. Khalid bin Nassar who represented the department at the exhibition, "The DTCM considers India as a very important market with tremendous growth potential. Our participation in the first-ever UAE Trade Exhibition in India, which was held from October 21 to 24, 2003 in Mumbai, reflects our desire to enlarge the scope of strong economic relations with the country whose nationals accounts for the bulk of expatriate workers in the emirate."

"Our participation once again in this exhibition underlines our commitment to enhancing our presence in this important market. The location of DTCM Overseas Representative office in Mumbai clearly suggests the importance we accord to trade and commercial relations with India as the place happens to be the Commercial Capital of India," he added.

"The Dubai-India relations have been historical and strong have been showing signs of fast growth due to the keenness on both sides and the expansion of economies of both. India has remained one of the largest trading partners of Dubai and has the two-way trade has been posting impressive year-on-year growth," concluded Mr. Nassar.

The DTCM has been conducting a number of road shows, exhibitions and workshops on its own in key cities of India every year in addition to joining the initiatives of other government organizations in tapping the Indian markets. In addition, the DTCM has been working on plans to tap the potential to attract more Indian tourists and businessmen to the emirate.

This year's expo too attracted a huge interest and participation from major companies and business establishments. The event offered access to over 15,000 serious business visitors from across the Indian subcontinent.

The 2nd edition of the show is a development after the huge success of the first show. The 1st show attracted participation from big firms and banks in the UAE and resulted in generating deals to the tune of AED 500 million between businessmen and investors in both the UAE and India in the fields of real estate, food processing, and building materials. Agreements were also signed between UAE and Indian parties to name agents and dealers for the UAE products in India.

The show also attracted over 8,100 trade and business visitors from India and gained a lot of praise from the officials in both countries as well as the exhibitors - who demanded a wider space for the following sessions of the show.

Some of the participants at this year's expo included Dubai Sports City, Emaar, National Bank of Dubai, Nakheel, Hamriya Free Zone, Dubai Poly Films, Al Khaleej Sugar, Fujairah Free Zone Authority, SAIF Zone, Ajman Free Zone, Islamic Bank, Emarat, IAL Containers and Jebel Ali Free Zone, amongst others

The number of visitors from India to the UAE has seen a rapid increase. Dubai hotel establishment guests from India registered an 8.2 per cent increase in 2003 over the previous year while Dubai's trade with India registered an impressive 35.1 per cent increase over the same period.

The total non-oil trade between UAE (Dubai in particular) and India has reached about US$ 7 billion by year ended in 31st of March 2004 making a 50 per cent growth over the previous year while Indian exports to the UAE reached US$ 5.1 billion during the same period marking the same percentage for the total growth.

The total number of flights operating between the UAE and India too saw an increase of 65.7 per cent from 169 in May 2002 to 280 in April 2003.

The exhibition had the support of the Indian Business and Professional council. Technical organiser of the 'UAE Trade Exhibition in India' was International Expo-Consults (IEC), a division of Dubai's multi-faceted Falaknaz Group.

The DTCM has had an office in India for the last seven years which has been functioning as an initial contact point and query-processing centre for the Indian travel trade interested in doing business in Dubai.

The India office aims at promoting commerce and tourism, through the organisation of marketing activities such as presentations, roadshows, advertising, brochure distribution, direct sales meetings and media education programmes, which include familiarization visits for business and travel journalists to Dubai.

The DTCM expects to play an important role in boosting bilateral ties by promoting a widespread awareness of the opportunities Dubai has to offer in both business and tourism.