Dubai Chamber's role of business facilitator comes to fore
2011-01-08 20:13:57
WAM Dubai, 8th Jan. 2011 (WAM) -- The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Annual Report 2010 released today indicates positive growth patterns by key economic sectors led by the Chamber members' export and re-export activities registering an annual growth rate of 15.2% compared to the year 2009. This trend is a clear tell-tale sign of recovery and better growth prospects being witnessed by the Emirate's leading economic performers, reveals the report.
The report further shows how Dubai retains its position of first choice of investment in the region while playing its leading role of a vibrant gateway to the neighbouring GCC countries. It also highlights the Chamber's efforts in fulfilling its strategic objectives of creating a favourable business environment for the Emirate, supporting the development of business and promoting Dubai as an international business hub.
While looking back at the year 2010, Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, pointed out that the challenges faced by the business community enticed the Chamber to come up with new initiatives and to focus more sharply on its role as a business facilitator, adviser and mediator. He said the annual report clearly demonstrates the achievements and growth patterns in light of the positive economic indicators that point out to trade returning to the pre-crisis figures of 2008.
Buamim further said that the past year saw the return of the Emirate's leading economic sectors like trade including export and re-export, tourism and logistics as main drivers of the Emirate's economic growth. He cited these sectors' excellent performance due to the Government's timely intervention and its continuing support for the completion of the Emirate's ongoing infrastructural projects as well as its efforts in boosting the investor confidence and attracting investments by offering a sound business environment through world-class infrastructural and financial services.
Exporting activities of Chamber members On the economic front, the value of exports and re-exports of the Chamber's members in 2010 reached AED 214.4 bn indicating an annual growth rate of 15.2% which is higher than the exports of AED 186.1 bn recorded for the same period in 2009 while the month of December registered the highest monthly exports of AED 21.1 bn. In comparison to the year 2007, the members' growth in exports in 2010 indicated a 27.8% rise proving the trade sector's regaining of its former position as key driver of the Emirate's economic growth. The Chamber steered the trend by providing indicators of competitiveness of Dubai's export products through RCA or root cause analysis and the newly-developed Dubai Import vulnerability indices and databases for strategic and sensitive imports.
The number of certificates of origin issued by the Chamber during last year was 644,809 indicating a 7.6% growth in comparison to the 599,303 certificates of origin issued in 2009 while its membership number went up to 117,827 compared to 108,489 in 2009 with an increase of 8.6% showing a clear rise in the number of companies operating in the Emirate.
Providing strong support to the business community The Annual Report 2010 indicates that the Chamber was a step ahead in providing value-added services to its stakeholders by launching various new initiatives at the end of 2009 most prominently among them being the SME Exporter of the Quarter recognition which later changed to SME Exporter of the Month to encourage companies to improve their performance in the export sector while highlighting the exporting/re-exporting achievements of its members from the small and medium enterprises.
The Chamber also introduced the quarterly Country Focus Briefings, Chamber Services Briefings and continued with its popular networking meetings with business groups and councils and the Talk Business at Breakfast initiatives encouraging an open dialogue and allowing the private sector to share their concerns with the relevant Government officials. These initiatives came besides the Monthly Business Leaders survey to gauge the market trends and made recommendations to the concerned Government authorities to study the matter and to amend laws that will benefit and provide the much-needed boost to the overall economy of the Emirate.
As part of the Talk Business at Breakfast initiative aimed at bridging the gap between the public and private sectors, the Chamber brought face to face top officials from the UAE Central Bank, Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), Dubai Customs and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.
Five new business councils including the Chinese, Tunisian, Irish, Hellenic, Russian, and two business groups, the Bankers Business Group and International Special Events Society, were set up by the Chamber to help support their respective countries and sectors to expand the scope of their business activities. With these new entrants the strength of the business groups went up to 24 and the councils to 39.
The Chamber also organized four quarterly economic seminars that offered insights and expertise to the business community on enhancing their performance and competitiveness in the market. These seminars shed light on the economic situation including the Dubai Traders' Outlook for 2010, Competitiveness Agenda for Dubai: Implications and Issues and New Business Environment beyond Crisis. It also discussed the emirate's economy before, amid and post the global economic crisis, the export patterns during the crisis, the role of the financial sector in supporting economic recovery, world economic outlook and its implications on UAE economy, Dubai's external trade growth development and prospects and Dubai trade opportunities in the world market. The Chamber also developed macro-economic models to assess the sensitivity of economic development for the UAE.
Hosting visiting delegations Dubai Chamber hosted 208 visiting trade delegations comprising of over 870 businessman, government officials and senior trade leaders, as well as delegations participating in major international exhibitions such as Big 5, Arabian Travel Market, Gulfood and Arab Health exhibitions. The Chamber also hosted special receptions in honour of the visiting Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and her large entourage of business delegates seeking enhanced trade ties with the country as well as Georgian Prime Minister Mika Gilauri and his high profile business delegation during their visit to consolidate stronger trade ties with Dubai.
Handling arbitration cases The Chamber's Legal Services Department received 1,009 mediation cases out of which it settled 295 in comparison to the 930 cases received in 2009 as the department organized a number of seminars and workshops on consumer protection against counterfeit, setting up business, drafting legal contracts and intellectual asset management.
On its part, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre received 422 cases in 2010 compared to the 292 cases of 2009 which is a clear increase of 44.5% in the number of cases handled by the Centre which also raised the awareness of the importance of arbitration and mediation in the settlement of commercial disputes.
Major initiatives As a first of its kind initiative to present Dubai as a potential business investment destination in the region for US businesses, Dubai Chamber hosted a large group of American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) heads at the US-Dubai 2010: Executive Business Leaders Mission to Dubai from March 7 to 11. The US business leaders' mission to Dubai has paved the way for the Emirate's business community to consolidate trade ties with their US counterparts and to promote the emirate as a lucrative business destination for American businessmen.
Dubai Chamber hosted the fifth successful round of the prestigious Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award in the presence of HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and a number of dignitaries and businessmen honouring award winning companies in line with international best practices and assessment models developed by the Chamber that cater to the needs of companies and institutions, and is in conformity with the highest global standards in the modern evaluation of institutional performance.
The Chamber launched yet another successful initiative of the year, the Country Focus Briefing in association with Embassies, Business Councils, Trade Centres and Representative Offices, which succeeded in introducing business opportunities in one chosen market to Dubai's business community and empowered them to explore emerging export destinations, develop relationships with relevant trade bodies and network with other like-minded businessmen. The briefings covered Chile, Switzerland and Japan.
The Chamber also launched its signature event, the second round of the Dubai Business Gala 2010 that paid tributes to Dubai's trading history as over 1,000 members of the business community attended the black-tie networking event held under the patronage and attendance of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline '&' Group, senior government officials and Consulate Generals. The gala dinner was a cultural treat for the attendees and succeeded in enhancing the reputation of Dubai as a global business and finance destination.
Offering world-class services The accolades for Dubai Chamber as a national Customs guarantor of the ATA Carnet system came after its appointment by the UAE Federal Customs Authority and the issuing of a decree by the UAE in joining the Istanbul Convention for becoming a member country allowing the temporary admission of goods.
The Chamber's long time efforts bore fruits as the UAE is all set to implement the system in the first quarter of 2011 which will facilitate a quick Customs clearance thus saving time, money and facilitating most Customs formalities and movement of businessmen and their representatives, participating in trade fairs. The system also helps enhance the country's position as an international destination for business and finance.
The Chamber organized three workshops and introductory seminars in cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce's World Chamber's Federation which were attended by representatives of local and GCC chambers and also hosted in Dubai a major global World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC) meeting for the first time in the region. The Chamber also organized the ICC Arbitral Awards Conference at its premises.
In its quest to offer one-stop services to the business community under one roof and to jointly serve them in partnership with various Government departments, the Chamber opened the Dubai Customs office in the Chamber head office which follows the earlier setting up of the Dubai Municipality office which will save the investor's time and energy in commuting to different offices spread across the city.
As part of its strategic objective of promoting Dubai as an international business hub, the Chamber participated in the 3rd Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Investment Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, when it announced the hosting of the 4th COMESA event in Dubai this year which will host hundreds of African ministers and global business leaders.
The Chamber also participated in the International Bar Association (IBA) Conference, in Vancouver, Canada. The IBA being the world's leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies boasting a membership of more than 40,000 individual lawyers and 197 bar associations and global law societies, the Chamber got the opportunity to promote Dubai as the most fitting host city in the region for this year's annual global event expected to attract more than 6,000 global participants in the Emirate.
Dubai Chamber unveiled its new and redesigned website (www.dubaichamber.com), and completed its �migration' to the (.com) domain including an Arabic domain on the new website. With its clutter-free clean interface, the website which uses HTML5, also runs on all the latest handheld devices including Apple iPhones, iPods and Ipads without the need for Flash and offers the best interface in modern technology.
The Chamber's Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) launched the CSR Label that recognizes good CSR practices among Dubai-based companies while allowing them to grow internally through self evaluation and also communicating their CSR practices to their stakeholders besides enhancing their reputation in the marketplace. The Chamber also organized two international CSR conferences and a number of training workshops in business management and responsible business practices.
The Chamber also launched the �Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network', with the aim to serve as the focal point for companies to share and exchange best practices in implementing Corporate Social Responsibility amongst like-minded firms in the Emirate. This network offers companies the opportunity to take the lead in implementing CSR and to network, learn, share experiences, and engage in dialogue.
Dubai Chamber added yet another feather in its cap of achievements as the organization has been honoured with three excellence awards including Distinguished Government Agency, Best Result in Employee Satisfaction and Best Result in Customer Satisfaction categories at the Dubai Government Excellence Programme 2009 award ceremony held in April. The Chamber also won a number of awards including the Arabian Business Achievement Award for facilitating public/private partnership, the Saudi Environmental Management Award for leading the green building initiative in the region, the Water Communications Award for its sustainable environmental practices at the inaugural H2O Water Awards organised by CPI Industry.
The Chamber organized a special event on its receiving of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) after becoming the 1st existing building in the region. The event was attended by HE Rashid Ahmad bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water. With this honour, Dubai Chamber joined the ranks with 204 buildings in Canada and the US, as well as 3 other buildings in India and Sri Lanka, in achieving this global accreditation.
Employee numbers and events Dubai Chamber achieved 52% Emiritisation with the percentage of women employees going up to 50% while its employee satisfaction reached 89% registering a 9% increase from 2009. The various economic studies and reports issued by the Chamber during the year reached 48 while the Centre for Responsible Business organized 16 workshops and seminars to promote a culture of responsible business practices. The Centre issued 6 issues of their newsletter CSR Al Youm which further helped in promoting the concept of corporate social responsibility.
The Chamber's Economic Research and Sustainable Business Development Sector published a number of Economic Bulletins and several editions of informative bi-weekly Economists and four publications of International Refereed Journals demonstrating the global credibility of research while also generating price indicators of consumer goods as well as adequately reflecting the price movements.
The Chamber also participated in 10 global events, most prominently the Hamburg Summit: China Meets Europe which aims at creating an opportunity for leaders from both ends of the Eurasian continent to network and exchange ideas, the annual IBA Conference and the Consumer Electronics Show in the US.
The website of the Chamber registered over 542,000 visitors during the year taking the percentage of new visitors to 41% which clearly shows the Chamber's prominence in being an important source of information for the business community in Dubai.
WAM/TF
