DCCI receives a trade delegation of the State of Texas

The statement came in a welcoming speech delivered by Mr. Al Tayer at a meeting held at DCCI today, in honor of the Honorable Michael Williams, Texas Railroad Commissioner, State of Texas and the accompanying trade delegation.

"The United Arab Emirates and the United states of America maintained in the recent three decades excellent and progressive trade and business relationships. Our physical non-oil bilateral trade has shown an upward trend and surged to new height of 2.2 billion dollars in the year 2003 against 1.6 billion in the year 2000 registering an increase of 37.5 percent in 3 years at an average annual increase of 12.5 percent", Mr. Al Tayer said.

"We are determined to boost this figure to higher levels in the coming few years through the activation of interaction channels and constructive dialogue between our two business communities", he stressed.

Paying a visit to both UAE and Qatar, the Trade delegation of the State of Texas includes top officials of the state as well as Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce and Greater Houston Partnership.

According to its statistics, Texas is the second-largest exporting state to the Middle East. Total l Texas exports to the Middle East in 3003 exceeded US$ 2.5 billion, detailed as follows:

2.531.901.045 US dollars, topped by machinery manufactures (30.6%), then chemical manufactures (12.1 %), then transportation equipment (10.9 %), computers and electronic products (10.5 %) and all others (35.8 %).

Mr. Al Tayer assured that "wide spectrum of business opportunities exist in Dubai and in US for business enterprises and corporate engaged in various business activities ranging from trading in goods and commodities to manufacturing and providing professional services", while he emphasized that "in Dubai, we need business, industry and trade to come into our market to increase the economy", he said.

He highlighted the consistent view of both the government and the private sector in Dubai which helped creating giant projects and initiatives that arise day after day.

He spoke on the expanding markets of Dubai that target 1.6 billion potential customers in many regions of the world, remarking that Emirates airlines has its frequent direct flights to New York, Australia, and many countries in the six continents.

He highlighted the modernized infrastructure and developed business environment that attracted a lot of big international companies to set up their regional offices or their distribution bases in Dubai.

"According to DCCI's Data Bank, the number of American projects in Dubai increased to 880 in 2004 against 451 in the year 2000, almost doubled in four years. American companies operating in Dubai based on 100 percent ownership increased from 85 establishments in the year 2000 to 124 in the year 2000, with a paid up capital of 1.3 billion Dollars", he disclosed.

"Joint venture companies between Dubai and US entrepreneurs have also surged from 366 ventures in the year 2000 to 756 ventures in 2004 making an increase of 107 percent with a total paid up capital of 1.8 billion dollars", he stated.

Honorable Mr. Williams praised the trade and business environment available in Dubai saying the members of the accompanying delegation who represent the biggest 50 companies and trade organizations in Texas are impressed by the opportunities available here.

He added that volume of trade between US and UAE is still open for more growth in the future, stressing on the importance of exchanging information for better exploiting the available opportunities in Dubai.

He extended the invitation to DCCI to participate in the US-Arab Economic Forum 2005, which will take place in September 14-16 2005 in Houston, Texas.

The Forum, which was held in Detroit, in September 2003, attracted a participation of 1000 personalities from 35 countries; approximately 300 print and broadcast journalists from the most prominent nets in the world along with 150 global leaders.