Dubai Airport Freezone Authority Steps Up Efforts in Attracting Investments and Bilateral Trade from China
– DAFZ welcomes official government delegation from China focused on strengthening ties and creating new business and commerce opportunities
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 21, 2018: Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZ), one of the UAE’s leading free zones, has further strengthened its ties with China through a series of initiatives focused on expanding bilateral trade and investment this year. This includes a senior government delegation visit from China that was welcomed by H.E Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni, Director General for DAFZ. He met Mr. Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of People’s Republic of China along with other senior officials and representatives from DAFZ and World Free Zones Organization (WFZO) in which they set out strategies and new approaches for planning, managing and operating free zones.
Other strategic initiatives include DAFZ recently signing a new partnership with Liaoning Chamber of Commerce UAE. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will increase the collaboration between the two organizations and will help create new business and investment opportunities with Liaoning province.
DAFZ also previously signed an MoU with China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (GDFTZ) – Nansha Area of Guangzhou (Nansha FTZ) and hosted roadshows in the Shenzhen province and Guangzhou in China during April 2018. The roadshows led to a significant amount of new company appointments with several high potential leads for new companies looking to invest in DAFZ.
HE Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni commented: “The UAE and the Republic of China have held strong strategic relations politically, economically and culturally since the mid-1980s. The governments of both countries have sought to build on these relations ever since, with the UAE recognizing China as one of the most prominent economic force in the Asian continent.
“It was a pleasure to welcome Mr. Qian Keming and his colleagues from the Ministry of Commerce as we continue to strengthen ties between us and look for new ways to collaborate. We see tremendous growth opportunities in a number of sectors including electronics, logistics, e-commerce and medical services and products,” added Al Zarooni.
DAFZ also commissioned a delegation visit to China visited the president of Shaanxi Halal Food Chamber of Commerce of Xi’AN Mr tie Qunping and Shanxi Province Government deputy Director General Mr Zhai Beiqin. The delegation also met with the Director of Bureau of Commerce, Shanxi Government, a representative from Xi’an Airport New City Free Zone, the Deputy Director at Xi’An High Tech Economic Free zone and the Xixian Airport New Area Deputy Director. The visit helped highlight the importance of DAFZ being a key intersection for China’s Belt & Road initiative and allowed for the exchange of expertise on what makes a free zone successful.
17% of all companies at DAFZ are from Asia. DAFZ’s strategy will continue to focus on providing world-class infrastructure and services for companies in key markets that are looking to set up operations in Dubai and is focused on seeing continued cooperation between DAFZ and the Chinese government and businesses.
DAFZ is home to several prominent Chinese companies including Huiteng (Middle East) FZE, Hytera Communications FZE, Junhou International FZCO, Northwell, China Southern Airlines Branch and Oriental Sky Aviation FZE.
Bilateral trade between China and the UAE reached a total of 170.2 billion dirhams in 2016, which made China the UAE’s biggest trade partner for the third consecutive year. In 2017, two-way trade between the two countries crossed $35 billion in the first nine months of the year alone.
