Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry issued the following announcement on Feb. 28.
Dubai Chamber’s investments aimed at raising awareness about trade and investment opportunities in Latin America are expected to reach AED 100 million over the next ten years, the Chamber’s President and CEO, H.E. Hamad Buamim revealed today at the Global Business Forum on Latin America 2018 in Dubai.
Speaking during a panel discussion entitled “Tomorrow’s Synergies – A Global Dialogue”, H.E. Buamim noted that these investments will support Dubai Chamber’s representative offices in Latin America, various trade missions organised by the Chamber and market intelligence conducted in the region.
Joining H.E. Buamim in the panel discussion was Monica de Greiff, Executive President, Bogotá Chamber of Commerce – Colombia, spoke about how new relations are being formed between businesses in Latin America and their counterparts in other emerging markets, and the role that Dubai can play in helping to facilitate access into markets in Africa and Asia.
“Dubai’s strong infrastructure will enable companies to connect through here to many interesting markets,” said H.E. Buamim, adding that Dubai Chamber plays an active role in facilitating relationships and partnerships between businesses in Latin America and Dubai.
H.E. Buamim spoke about the Chamber’s expansion strategy in Latin America, and revealed that the organisation is opening two new offices in Panama and Argentina this year, which will complement its existing office in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
As part of its continued efforts to strengthen relationships and presence within Latin American countries, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today with the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce on the sidelines of the Global Business Forum on Latin America 2018. The MoU will pave the way for stronger investment and trade ties between Dubai and the city-region of Bogotá, Colombia.
For her part, de Greiff described the MoU and the Forum as positive steps to fostering new collaboration between Dubai and Latin America, and noted that there are many opportunities in Colombia that still need to be explored.
“We don’t want people to come to Colombia and say they only want to invest. We want them to come here and build partnerships. Colombia can also be used as a hub to gain access to Latin America – we are part of the Pacific Alliance, which includes a combined population of 200 million people,” she said.
Both H.E. Buamim and de Greiff encouraged businesses in Dubai to visit Latin America, to see the potential that its markets offer.
“Food security, logistics and tourism are existing sectors that we can work together on, and there are a number of companies in Latin America that work within the areas of technology and innovation that we have a real appetite for. By communicating more about the reality and what can be done between us, we can attract more investments from the Arab World into Latin America,” H.E. Buamim explained.
They stressed the importance of knowledge transfer between the UAE and Latin America, as such exchanges provide an opportunity to build relationships and give businesses valuable information on the local business environment.
“We have to keep working on the opportunities in our markets, such as within the fields of oil, financial services, tourism, coffee and flowers. There is a huge opportunity for companies from Dubai to come to Colombia to build partnerships and deals. We want to make this happen,” he said, adding that tangible outcomes of the Global Business Forum on Latin America 2018 will “continue for months and years to come.”
The Global Business Forum on Latin America 2018 is part of a series of Global Business Forums, organised by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2013 to highlight new investment opportunities in a number of emerging and dynamic global markets, including Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Latin America.
The forum brought together top-level decision makers, including heads of state, ministers, dignitaries, prominent CEOs, heads of private banks, sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, business leaders, and entrepreneurs from Latin America, the GCC and beyond.
Original source can be found here.
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