Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry today (Thursday) discussed ways of cementing economic relations with Mexico during the reception of a large trade delegation headed by HE Francisco Javier Alonso Escobar, Mexico Consul General in Dubai during their business tour of the region covering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon and the UAE.
The delegation, comprising of Jose Neif Jury Fabre, Business & Economic Affairs Minister, Promexico Middle East, Consulate officials, members of the Arab Mexican Chamber of Commerce & Industry and top Mexican company representatives, was received by Hassan Al Hashemi, Director, External Relations, Dubai Chamber, and was introduced to the encouraging business environment of Dubai and the investment opportunities it offers.
The delegation also had a one-to-one meeting with Dubai Chamber members from Construction, Building Materials, Foodstuff Trading, Pharmaceutical and Land Transport Groups and a chance to promote their products and create new business opportunities with their counterparts in Dubai.
Al Hashemi welcomed the Mexican delegation stressing the strategic location of Dubai as an international business hub that offers a gateway to markets of 2.2 billion consumers, thanks to the government support and the bold leadership for adopting an open economic policy that helped in creating an attractive business environment. He pointed out that Dubai recorded a 9% increase in its foreign trade to reach AED 523 billion ($142.5 billion) in 2006, thanks to the private sector which was urged to play a bigger role in the emirate’s economy in trade, tourism, construction, financial and logistics services and others.
“As part of its strategy in supporting and promoting business interests in the emirate, Dubai Chamber sees a great potential in this business matching
meeting bringing Dubai and Mexican businessmen on a common platform
where they can explore newer areas of cooperation between them and work towards better business ties in the future. I wish the delegates all the best in this endeavour,” said Al Hashemi.
He noted that the visit of the Mexican delegation provides a good opportunity for both the sides to exchange ideas and discuss ways of boosting bilateral trade ties. He highlighted the coordinative role of Dubai Chamber with the Mexican Consulate and the Arab-Mexican Chamber of Commerce in attracting more Mexican companies to Dubai and in increasing the volumes of bilateral trade.
HE Francisco Javier Alonso Escobar, Mexico Consul General in Dubai, stressed his government’s interest in strengthening the economic relations between Mexico and Dubai and improve the bilateral trade by promoting their products and urged major Mexican companies to explore new businesses with their counterparts in Dubai.
More than 22 Mexican partnership companies work in Dubai and are all registered at Dubai Chamber. Dubai’s non-oil trade with Mexico reached AED 1,154,318,521 in 2007 as the country ranked 64 in the list of Dubai’s global trading partners. A total of 34 Certificates of Origin were issued by Dubai Chamber in 2007 for goods exported to Mexico with a total cost of 15,733,824.
