A recent agribusiness conference in Nairobi highlighted the
desire of United Arab Emirates officials to expand trade with African nations and how leaders from
Dubai are looking closely at continuing to expand trade with East African
nations, including Ethiopia.
Dubai imports 85 percent of its food
from beyond its borders, and much of that comes from Ethiopia, according to Informa Middle East.
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Ethiopian
International Office-organized roundtable in June was attended by Abdul
Razak Mohammed Hadi, UAE’s ambassador to Kenya, and Omar Khan, director of
International Offices at the Dubai Chamber.
In an interview with the Gulf News Journal last week, Khan
expounded on the prospects for trade between the UAE and East African
nations.
“Dubai Chamber considers Africa, particularly
East Africa, to be an important trading partner.” Khan said. “Dubai’s 2015
non-oil revenue with the members of the East African community was almost $3.5 billion, a nearly 10 percent increase from 2014. We want to sustain and encourage
this growth.”
Khan said that with a rapidly growing
population, the UAE stands to gain by enhancing trade partnerships with other
nations. The UAE, he said, will need an increasing supply of fresh food,
especially in the Dubai area.
Khan cited forecasts expecting food sales to
increase by nearly 30 percent by 2019, and the retail value of packaged food sales to
rise from approximately $4.4 billion in 2015 to approximately $6.3 billion by 2019.
“Dubai Chamber seeks to promote bilateral ties
and work with suppliers in Africa to break down barriers to trade
in order to facilitate increased business and enable Dubai businesses to
leverage opportunities in Africa and enable African companies to expand into
Dubai,” Khan said.
The initiative with Ethiopia, Khan said, is
only part of a broader project to increase regional trade. Citing three
satellite offices existing in Addis Ababa, Accra and Maputo, Khan said Dubai is
also planning to open a forth office in Nairobi.
“Having localized offices on the ground enables
us to be closer to the regional African business communities, and thus offer
better business opportunities to our member network.” Khan said. “These
satellite offices organize events across a variety of industries, whenever
relevant opportunities arise. Earlier in June, we organized a roundtable on
halal cosmetic certification in Ghana, which is a major producer of shea and
cocoa butters. The roundtable presented information on the criteria needed to
certify products as halal, and highlighted Dubai’s position as a center for
Islamic business.”
Khan said many more Africa-focused events are planned, from conferences and trade missions to another Africa
Global Business Forum, which will take place next year in Dubai and bring
together key representatives from the private and public sectors across a
variety of industries to share knowledge and experience and to collaborate to
boost trade.
