Director General of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al-Mutaiwee, spoke at a Lebanese Business Council meeting yesterday. The aim of the meeting was to consolidate the commercial relations which have developed over the past few years reaching 1.3 billion Emirati dirhams ($353 million) in 2002, and to develop the direct investment activity, as well as the joint investment between Dubai and Lebanon.
The number of active Lebanese establishments in Dubai reached 697 in 2002, where the overall paid up capital was around Dh 1.8 billion.
In his speech, Al Mutaiwee pointed out that the commercial and economic relations between Dubai and Lebanon date back to a short period prior to the discovery and utilization of the oil wealth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when a small number of Lebanese merchants and businessmen established interests in Dubai, due to their perception of Dubai as the destined country for a vast commercial activity and fast development.
Al-Mutaiwee added that the bilateral trade between Lebanon and the Emirates has witnessed a significant growth with the development the Emirates has gone through in the commerce, trade and construction sectors. He also pointed out that the trade between Dubai and Lebanon jumped from Dh 17 million in 1974, to around three billion dirhams in 2002. Some Dh 1.1 billion of it is the value of exports and re-exports from Dubai to Lebanon, compiled from the certificates of origin issued by the chamber. He anticipated that trade between Dubai and Lebanon will witness a considerable growth over the next few years through the cooperation between the Dubai Chamber and the Lebanese Business Council as well as the other responsible.
The Director General also added that the development of the bilateral trade in many cases is accompanied by appropriate direct growth in the direct and joint investment flow.
Al-Mutaiwee revealed that the gross paid up capital in the Lebanese operating establishments in Dubai, reached around Dh 1.8 billion in the first half of this year, and that the number of Lebanese establishments in Dubai reached 697 establishments, 23 of which are 100 percent owned by Lebanese investors, with a paid up capital worth around Dh 124 million.
According to the sectorial distribution of the capital invested in the Lebanese establishments operating in Dubai, the sectors of trade and repair services and the sectors of manufacturing industries have the larger shares of Dh 674 million and Dh 648 million for the two sectors respectively. The paid up capital in the construction companies value Dh 291 million, Dh 81 million in the financial sector, Dh 61 million in the teaching services sector, and Dh 38 million in the real estate sector. In addition, the paid up capital in the hotel industry has reached Dh 36 million, and Dh 30 million in the storage industry.
Al-Mutaiwee explained that the tourism movement between Dubai and Lebanon, have achieved real vast developments, as the number of Lebanese tourists in Dubai jumped from 7,000 in 1986, to 18,000 in 1996, and 52,000 tourists in 2002.
Al-Mutaiwee expressed to the President and members of the Lebanese business council, that the Dubai Chamber is willing to provide all the facilities available, and everything which would lead to the growth in the business activity between Dubai and Lebanon, and facilitate the council’s activities. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
