Mutual trade between Dubai, US is Dhs31.7b in first half of 2020

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs (DC) received a delegation from the US mission in Dubai, headed by Philip Frayne, the United States Consul General.

The delegation highly applauded Dubai Customs’ incessant efforts to combat counterfeiting and protect American brand owners’ rights.

Musabih reaffirmed Dubai Customs’ keenness to boost cooperation with the US diplomatic missions in support of the commercial relationships between the UAE and the USA. The USA is Dubai’s third largest trade partner, with Dhs31.7 billion of mutual trade in the first half of 2020.

The meeting took place in the presence of Mansoor Al Malik, Executive Director for Policies and Legislation at Dubai Customs and Khalil Saqer bin Gharib, Director of Corporate Communication Department, and from the American Consulate side, Dillon Clancy, Political and Economic Officer, Peter Mehravari, Regional Intellectual Property Attaché, and Francis Peters, Principal Commercial Officer attended the meeting.

“We not only seize counterfeited goods, but also recycle them to protect the environment and to make use of them in other aspects. By protecting the rights of brand owners, we help boost Dubai’s standing as a global hub for tourism, travel and trade following the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai to move into the next 50 years with knowledge and outstanding performance. We have managed to effectively deal with covid-19 pandemic and turned the challenge into an opportunity. Dubai Customs completed 16 million transactions in 2020 growing 23 per cent compared to 13 million transactions in 2019,” said Musabih.

Philip Frayne said; “The cooperation that we have received from Dubai Customs to help protect American brands is excellent and we look forward to further cooperation in the years to come. So I want to congratulate Dubai Customs for all they have done in combating counterfeiting coming through Dubai.”

Within their efforts to boost the role of Dubai and the UAE e-commerce on the global stage, Dubai Customs signed an agreement with Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) that enables Jafza enjoy all the services and benefits Dubai Customs provides through its cross border e-commerce platform.

The innovative platform utilises block chain technology to integrate and automate operations between Customs, Free Zones, logistics, and courier companies. It is the first of its kind in the region, and it aims to help the emirate become a global hub for e-commerce, and encourage e-commerce companies set their businesses in Dubai. This follows the leadership’s vision of increasing Dubai based companies’ local and regional distribution share of e-commerce trade in the emirate to Dhs24 billion by 2022 through decreasing cost of e-commerce operations by 20 per cent. E-commerce is expected to contribute Dhs12 billion to the emirate’s GDP by 2023.

Abdullah Mohammed Al Khaja, Executive Director of Clients Management Division, Dubai Customs and Abdulla bin Damithan, Chief Commercial Officer, DP World, UAE Region signed the agreement, which will see Dubai Customs’ highly experienced employees provide the e-commerce services to Jafza to ensure best performance in enhancing Dubai external trade.

“Dubai Customs looks forward to developing the local competencies in e-commerce sector in support of the advancing e-commerce activity in Dubai and its success in attracting regional and global e-commerce platforms into the emirate,” said Al Khaja. “Number of e-commerce parcels has increased in the first half of 2020 to 4.3 million marking a staggering 150 per cent growth compared to the corresponding period in 2019. We are enthusiastic to keep abreast with this growth and to help customers easily access the world’s markets in support of Dubai’s external trade and its role as a global hub for trade and tourism.”

Al Khaja added; “Signing the agreement with Jafza will help increase number of beneficiaries and will ensure best e-commerce services delivered to Jafza companies. Free Zone trade in Dubai touched Dhs227 billion in the first half of 2020, which makes 41 per cent of the total trade value.”

Commenting on the same, Bin Damithan said; “E-commerce and retail is a promising sectors at Jafza. The sector grew 10.6 per cent in the first half of 2020 making Dhs37.6 billion in revenues. There is also 300 per cent increase in demand on e-commerce services.

To this end, we contact companies registered with us to help them turn their business online.”

Within its efforts to spread a culture of innovation, and as part of its participation in the UAE Innovation Month in February, 2021 Dubai Customs inaugurated the 2nd International Innovation, a joint initiative by the Ministry of Economy and Dubai Customs for the second consecutive year.