Goods Away

What were your experiences at Gulf Food 2013, and how important is the food sector to Dubai’s exports and for the economy?

Gulf Food, as in the previous year, was large. It was the largest exhibition for Gulf Food ever in Dubai. There were over 4,000 exhibitors, and between 35,000 and 40,000 business visitors attended. The entrance price was AED250, which was expensive, but there were still many people. It means there is a large demand for such exhibitions. The food sector itself is in our top 10 in terms of the target list for Dubai Export Development Corporation (DEDC), and it represents between 10% and 14% of all manufacturing in Dubai. The Emirate is becoming a worldwide hub for exporters of food, fruit, vegetables, and processed food, among others. We are increasing our production, and we are also becoming a trading hub between West and East.

DEDC facilitated AED5 billion worth of trade in 2012 compared to AED3 billion in 2011. What were the drivers behind this huge growth?

We believe that the support and assistance we provided to firms has made a substantial difference. We are one of the major factors in this increase. We believe our matchmaking, business-to-business meetings, exhibitions, and conferences helped with this increase. Prior to the establishment of DEDC, it was not organized as such. The figure in 2007 was AED27.7 billion in exports. In 2011, it reached AED98 billion, and we think it will be around AED128 billion in 2012. From AED27 billion to AED128 billion is phenomenal growth. The number one exporter or manufacturer in the world is the US. When it wanted to overcome the crisis, President Obama’s first action was to double exports in five years. His target was to double exports in five years; however, we quintupled them in five.

Why did DEDC push for enhanced exports and relations between the UAE and Southern Africa?

We are an adaptive organization, and we have a flexible strategy. Every year we revise our action, business, and strategic plans. We change our strategy according to what is happening in the area and the world, and we try to utilize those targets. For example, since we started, we noticed that business and trade in Dubai is strong. It is not one of the strongest parts of our economy, but, in the last 60 years, Dubai has become a hub for trade in the area. It is mostly regional, meaning between India, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab countries, with a little bit into the EU, North and South America, and Asia. That is why our strategy in 2012 and 2013 was to open Africa, especially East Africa and Southern Africa. We visited Tanzania and its growth was around 5%-8%, which is very large for the whole country. We are also looking at trading over the entire continent, even Western Africa, because of the connectivity and the ports. We are managing a port in Senegal and Emirates Airline has flights to Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria. That helps the businesses to have more contact with other businesses. The second area we added was Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. We also visited Kazakhstan in 2012, and we are planning to expand our visit to other countries neighboring Kazakhstan in 2013.

What does the UAE do to compete with countries like Turkey?

The relationship with Turkey is very old and good; there is no competition there. We can provide things that Turkey can’t, and vice versa. Besides products, we have the service sector. We have many projects in engineering, finance, IT, e-government, and especially in Islamic finance. For example, the first Islamic bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, was set up in the UAE.