Majdi Abed, the new French Consul-General in Dubai, today visited Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) and met Salma Ali Saif bin Hareb, CEO Jafza and Economic Zones World.
During the meeting, Ms. Hareb briefed Majdi Abed on the facilities available to companies based in Jafza, and specifically mentioned the large number of French companies which use Jafza as their base of Middle East operations.
Salma Hareb said, “France is a key trade partner of the U.A.E. and both countries have traditional business, military and cultural ties. Jafza is the proud host of a number of top French companies, and we are always looking to expand our trade ties.” Abed was informed that there are currently more than 130 French companies, including 10 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, operating out of Jafza.
Jafza’s non-oil trade with France has seen a steady growth in the past decade. In 2013, this trade amounted to US$1.537 billion, compared to Dubai-France trade of US$5.204 billion during the year.
Jafza recently concluded a successful roadshow to France recently, and also participated in SIAL Paris 2014, where it received more than 600 inquiries from companies interested in using Jebel Ali Free Zone for establishing their regional hubs to serve the rapidly growing affluent markets in West Asia, including the Gulf Cooperative Council countries, the CIS and Africa, the greater Middle East region.
Majdi Abed said, “Jafza is a unique economic model in the Middle East. I was keen to visit Jafza to closely look at the most important investment opportunities in the Free Zone, in order to encourage more French companies to establish regional offices in Jafza and move towards a huge market of more than two billion consumers.” He praised Jafza’s economic vision, and said that it would provide unprecedented opportunities to French companies in various fields. He emphasised France’s readiness to work with Jafza in order to find a business incubator for French companies, providing them an appropriate environment to study the regional market and identify the best business opportunities.
Major French companies already in Jafza include Schneider Electric, Saint Gobain, Renault, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Total, Alstom and Sanofi.
Source : WAM News Agency for United Arab Emirates
