DLC targets Dubai's Swiss industry leaders

DLC CEO Michael Proffitt and Dubai World Central's Marketing and Communications Director, Abdulla Al Falasi, met a diverse gathering of Dubai's Swiss Business Council (SBC) members from different industry sectors at an informal get together.

Co-hosted by the Consulate General of Switzerland in Dubai, Swiss Business Council members heard how DLC supports the emirate's market leading position as a logistics hub for the wider Middle East and beyond - a market of more than two billion potential customers from South East Europe, the CIS, Indian sub-continent, Middle East and Africa.

"Though the Swiss community in the UAE is only 900-strong, it represents influential business interests across the jewellery, watch, machinery, pharmaceutical, food, chemical and instrument sectors," said Proffitt. "The UAE is Switzerland's largest trading partner in the GCC, with imports totalling US$1.016 billion in 2005."

Swiss Consulate statistics also reveal that exports from the UAE to Switzerland last year increased 37.8% to US$265.62 million, an indicator of two-way trade growing at a fast pace.

"UAE and Switzerland have historically had excellent and friendly relations and recent trends point to strong trade links with a healthy increase in commercial exchange," said Hans Hauser, Consul General of Switzerland in Dubai.

"The Swiss Business Council Dubai has been promoting commercial, personal, social and cultural relations with government and private sector representatives in the two countries for over a decade. DLC's presentation about the dynamics of logistics business as a catalyst for trade growth show just why this emirate is Switzerland's premier trading partner in the GCC."

The industry gathering also comprised leading bankers and manufacturing executives.

"Our members from local, regional groups and multinationals with interests in Switzerland are always on a learning curve, and understanding DLC's unique position within the huge urban aviation development has generated active interest in the project - and that knowledge will be passed back home," said Peter Haraddine, President of SBC and a 29-year Dubai veteran.

"There are scores of manufacturers, distributors and traders which could benefit from DLC's unique hub proposition," he added.

DLC, together with Dubai World Central International Airport and the Jebel Ali Free Zone and port, provide a single customs-bonded free zone environment and the world's first truly integrated, multi-modal logistics platform. It will be operational by the end of next year.