Dubai: The Dubai Chamber will host a leading US trade delegation that will be given a series of briefings on Dubai's strategic advantages this week.

"Despite the sad incidents of September 11, trade between the UAE and the US jumped five fold during the last eight years, from $3 billion [Dh11 billion] to $15 billion last year," Hamad Bu Amim says.

As a first-of-its-kind initiative to present Dubai as a potential business investment destination in the region for US businesses, the Dubai Chamber is hosting a large group of American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) at the US-Dubai 2010: Executive Business Leaders Mission to Dubai, from Sunday until March 11.

Close relations

"The US is Dubai's third largest trading partner as Dubai's exports to the country in 2009 were valued at Dh377 million while the UAE exports to the US were valued at $1.3 billion, a jump of 24 per cent in the first nine months of 2009.

"There are 1,034 US partnership companies including 102 US ownership companies operating in Dubai.

"The emirate has built solid relations with officials and commercial entities and Dubai is poised for an excellent trading relationship with the US in the long run."

Bu Amim said the massive investment made by the Dubai Government to expand the physical and soft infrastructure during the last years of the econ-omic boom has placed Dubai in a much more advantageous position to fulfill its role as a global economic gateway.

"With investment in roads, highways, ports, airports, aviation and tourism infrastructure, we are now much better off in serving more economies," he says.

"So trade, logistics, financial services and tourism continue to remain our USPs [unique selling points] for Dubai to serve major economies."

Major cities

The visiting delegation, comprising 45 top officials of major US chambers, is led by Dave Adkission, 2010 Chairman of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), and includes officials of chambers of major US cities including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, each representing thousands of US businesses.