Dubai-US bilateral trade rises 76% in 10 years: Dubai Customs

Bilateral trade between the Emirate of Dubai and the United States of America has risen 76 per cent in a decade, said the Director-General of Dubai Customs, Ahmed Mahboob Musabih.

Musabih’s remarks were made during a meeting between Sultan Bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman and CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, PCFC, and US Consul-General Philip Frayne, alongside a high-profile delegation. They discussed boosting bilateral trade between Dubai and the Unites States during an Ertebaat Business Breakfast meeting held at Dubai Customs headquarters, in the presence of Ahmed Musabih, as well as representatives of major US businesses based in Dubai, and senior executives from Dubai Customs.

Bin Sulayem said, “We are guided by the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, towards incentivising foreign investments to boost trade and economic growth and help overcome the geopolitical challenges facing global trade.

“The United States is a strategic trade partner for Dubai, ranking as third biggest trading partner with Dhs19.5 billion worth of trade in the first quarter of this year, a strong growth of 10 per cent from Dhs17.7 billion in Q1 last year.” Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said trade relations between Dubai and the US have seen an upward trend, with bilateral trade jumping 76 per cent over ten years from Dhs45.9 billion in 2009 to Dhs80.65 billion in 2018.

The Dubai Customs Director-General pointed out that the cusom’s authority was providing extensive customs facilitations to boost trade with the US and enable US traders and businesses to get real value from their trading through Dubai. “US traders and exhibitors will be able to benefit from a dedicated smart channel to clear their goods coming to Expo 2020,” he said.

The US Consul-General thanked Dubai Customs for organising the business meeting which supports the growing two-way trade between the UAE and the United States. He commended the meeting as an excellent opportunity for boosting cooperation and simplifying procedures to ensure continued trade growth into the future.

According to bilateral trade statistics report presented in the meeting, imports accounted for Dhs14.87 billion of Dubai-US trade in Q1 2019, while exports totaled 1.3 billion and re-exports Dhs3.33 billion. Top high-value goods traded were cars, aircraft engines, gold and aluminium.

Meeting attendees learned that 471 US trademarks are currently registered with the Dubai Customs IPR Department. Also revealed, were around 20 IP-infringement cases involving US brands. The counterfeit items seized in 16 cases of US trademarks violations were recycled in 2018 as part of Counterfeits Destruction Service launched by Dubai Customs in cooperation with the Brand Owners Protection Group.

Other agenda items discussed during the meeting included the Authorised Economic Operator, AEO, programme and benefits for its international businesses members, as well as Dubai Customs’ development efforts to facilitate e-commerce in cooperation with key players in cross-border online trading.

Meanwhile, Dubai Customs has announced that all members of its inspection staff are Emirati, with 1,691 inspectors accounting for 46 per cent of the organisation’s total workforce.

In a press statement on Tuesday, Dubai Customs said it will continue to headhunt and recruit highly-skilled UAE nationals to be part of its workforce in all areas of customs work, and has a full-fledged training and development programme to boost and promote the government’s Emiratisation drive.

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director-General of Dubai Customs, said, “Dubai Customs plays a key role in supporting the UAE Emiratisation strategy by offering career opportunities to a larger number of nationals.”

He added that the organisation is also looking to increase the number of Emiratis employed in other specialties, “where we currently have 88 per cent Emiratisation, the highest amongst government departments.”

Dubai Customs’ Emiratisation plan is regularly reviewed and assessed with defined KPIs to measure performance and efficiency on a yearly basis, according to Fareed Al Marzooqi, Executive Director for HR, Finance and Administration.

“Empowering UAE nationals is a responsibility we take very seriously, as we seek to recruit and retain highly-qualified nationals and integrate them in all areas of customs and administrative work. Inspection staff enjoy round-the-year training and development to sustain performance and deliver high-standard customs service,” he explained.

WAM