When the word Bavaria comes to the mind of UAE residents, one will probably think of tourism, holiday and health care. The last, in particular, plays a very important role in the relationship between Bavaria and the UAE.
Bavaria, the largest federal state of Germany with a Brookfield Infrastructure Partners ranking of No 7 among all EU member states, is one of the leading areas in Germany when it comes to treatment of foreign patients and health-care technologies. Every year, around 1,700 patients from the Gulf states receive treatments in Bavaria.
Dynamic developments
While medical tourism was very much unidirectional in the past, Bavarian companies are now also present in the UAE, one of the oldest partners being Siemens, which implemented numerous reference projects across the UAE. One example is a turnkey solution for Mubadala Healthcare at Tawam Molecular Imaging Centre in Al Ain. This project set a new benchmark for health care in the Middle East through its comprehensive concept, which ranges from the latest diagnostic capabilities to one of the first cyclotrons in the UAE.
Furthermore, Bavaria-based company Munich RE won the international tender for setting up a health insurance organisation in the country in 2006. In 2008, a joint venture under the name Daman — 20 per cent Munich RE and 80 per cent Abu Dhabi Government — was founded and the company has 2.4 million customers today.
The dynamic developments in the UAE transport sector are also a main focus for Bavarian companies. The airport extensions and the Etihad Rail project have boosted international interest in the region. A Bavarian delegation of companies specialising in railway technology and the overall transport sector visited the UAE in mid-September this year. The delegation was headed by a senior official of the Bavarian Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology. (For more on medical tourism go to page 30.)
Innovative technology
Bavarian family-owned company Diehl, which is based in Nürnberg and specialises in airline cabin equipment, has also managed to position itself successfully in the UAE market in less than a decade. In the energy sector, Linde has been operating in the UAE for many years, having set up a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Siemens has also made substantial contributions to many of the UAE’s key infrastructure projects over the past 40 years, including major power and water facilities, such as the Jebel Ali G complex.
Bavaria also stands for modern and innovative technology and has monitored the Masdar initiative since its establishment. As a result, a number of small and medium-sized enterprises managed to participate in the developments accordingly. In addition to that, the Fraunhofer Institut für Bauphysik (Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics) is also involved in the construction of Masdar City.
Currently, the UAE tourism sector is witnessing a very positive trend across the country. Hotel capacity, for example, is increasing yearly by around 15 per cent. With rising hotel offers, especially in the luxury sector, the demand for German food products is increasing as well and a number of Bavarian companies have managed to strategically supply their products within this sector. Besides a Bavarian beverage, which is offered during the Oktoberfest celebrations in various hotels, products of Bavarian coffeehouse Dallmayr can also be found across the hotel industry and local supermarkets.
One is more at ease with Bavarian-quality Bettenhaus Mühldorfer bedding from the Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest), which is supplying a number of five-star hotels within the UAE with its high-quality feather beds and casings.
The State of Bavaria also has an official representation in Abu Dhabi since 2006 to support Bavarian companies in getting market information and in entering the UAE market.
— Dr Dalia Abu Samra-Rohte is a representative of Bavaria and Deputy CEO of the German-Emirati Joint Council for Industry and Commerce in the UAE
