Dubai: A team of UAE businessmen is expected to return to Canada in coming weeks to continue the hunt for a suitable property to build a manufacturing plant, Gulf News has learnt.
The investors have apparently short-listed two Canadian cities as potential sites for the new plant after more than a year of discussion and site visits in summer 2009 in the province of Ontario.
Canada's hot economy in one of the healthiest to emerge from the global financial crisis.
The nature of the goods to be manufactured by the UAE-Canadian plant has not been made public, nor has the investor group been identified.
The mayor of one of the two cities being considered confirmed that he visited Dubai late last year to speak with the interested parties and pitch his city in a presentation.
Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis and a city economic staffer conducted a three-day business trip at the invitation of the company which has a manufacturing plant in the UAE.
Ellis declined to share confidential details of the talks, but confirmed that he has informed his city council of the talks with great optimism that Belleville will be chosen for the capital start-up project.
"They told us they were coming back to Canada this summer," said Ellis. "Belleville is one of the preferred sites.
"We're still in the running. When they return, we will sit down and talk about the next chapter," Ellis said.
Good access
The UAE investors are looking for a local workforce with a strong work ethic, low property taxes as well as good access to larger markets in Canada.
The mayor said his city is eager to begin new business relationships with the Middle East region, noting that Belleville is blessed already with a large manufacturing base comprising global companies hailing from diverse regions from the United States to South Korea.
Ellis praised Dubai as a modern city with an exciting mix of old and new cultural amenities, such as the Gold Souq and Burj Khalifa, destinations he toured when visiting last year.
