DUBAI: Dubai’s foreign trade soared 3% in Q1 2015, hitting AED 331 billion compared to AED 323 billion in the same period of 2014. The growth is attributed to the emirate’s heavy investment in its infrastructure, which has significantly enhanced its attractiveness to international businesses.
Imports had the lion share with AED 205 billion, while exports climbed to AED 32 billion and re-exports AED 94 billion.
China was Dubai’s premier trade partner, with AED 47 billion worth of goods traded between them. India turned second with trade value totalling AED 24.7 billion. The USA followed with AED 19.5 billion and KSA came in fourth with a trade value of AED 17.1 billion.
Commenting on these figures, H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said: “Dubai has demonstrated the ability to withstand the impact of the global economic slowdown in major trading areas, as well as the decline in oil prices and currency swings. The emirate’s foreign trade is leveraged by its world-class infrastructure and the trading and customs services put in place to cater to the needs of traders and investors.
“We proceed from the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to develop government services that make people happy and create environments conducive to innovation and creativity,” Bin Sulayem added.
According to Bin Sulayem, international phone and IT hardware manufacturers and software developers who established their regional HQs and distribution centres in Dubai are perfectly placed to take advantage of the vast facilitations tailored especially to cater to their needs, in a bid to encourage more trade in phones and IT equipment through the emirate.
“Dubai boasts an extensive foreign trade network, primarily between markets in China and India and global markets in Europe, America and Africa, giving Asian investors a broad choice of potential global marketing outlets,” Bin Sulayem said.
The Director of Dubai Customs, H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said, “Dubai’s foreign trade growth reflects its success in diversifying its local economic structure while comprehensively developing all economic sectors, with commerce and tourism on the lead of this advancing approach. Meanwhile, Dubai Plan 2021 is anchoring trade by setting new goals for the sector in the upcoming years.
“We at Dubai Customs are very much keen on achieving the ambitious objectives of the Dubai Plan by stepping up our Customs performance into a prominent world class level to get trade moving; a state to be achieved by harnessing creativity and innovation amongst our human capital and in the development and utilization of the latest apps and technologies.”
Ahmed Mahboob affirmed DC’s commitment to 2015 as the Year of Innovation. “We have launched a range of new and outstanding initiatives during this year, including our hallmark “ The Virtual Corridor”, a unique and innovative venture designed to help further streamline cargo movement between customs ports in Dubai.”
Furthermore, added the Director of Dubai Customs, “a series of initiatives are being launched to ensure the optimal engagement of our clients’ in the process of developing customs services and facilitations. Most recently, we introduced the new Smart Services Advisory Panel as one of our keystone projects in this realm, which comprises 34 companies representing the largest segment of all business sectors. This panel is aimed at developing innovative ideas in the field of customs work in line with Dubai Customs and Dubai’s SMART Strategies. With reflection to such new and existing initiatives, we scored 91.2% in customer satisfaction during the year 2014.”
