Dubai: Dubai Customs on Monday launched a book summing up its history, accomplishments, and role in promoting Dubai’s security and development.
The book, Dubai Customs: Mission and Commitment, was unveiled during an event at Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf attended by senior officials and cultural figures of the UAE.
On the event sidelines, Dubai Customs honoured “UAE culture pioneers and leaders, in appreciation of their great role in the UAE’s movement of enlightenment and culture”, Dubai Customs said in a statement on Monday.
Khalil Bin Ghraib, Director, Corporate Communications, Dubai Customs, said the book will be available in a digital format on the Dubai Customs website (dubaicustoms.gov.ae) “to reach as many customers and interested people as possible.”
The book also aims to simplify information on Dubai Customs procedures in a reader-friendly manner. It addresses Dubai Customs clients, specialists, stakeholders and representatives of the commercial and consular missions who have daily work and relations with Dubai Customs.
Dubai Customs is one of Dubai’s oldest government departments. In 2000, Dubai Customs issued a silver-plated souvenir coin to mark its one hundredth anniversary. The UAE itself is only 43 years old.
The book introduces Dubai Customs’s humble past – when in 1963 the value of exports were £8.7 million, worth around Dh49.9 million at today’s foreign exchange rate. The foreign trade of Dubai in 2013 amounted to Dh1.3 trillion.
The book dwells into the progress made during the period, as Dubai Customs assumed its capacity as “the first line of defence and the protective shield proactively deterring criminal attempts of smuggling and illicit trade into the UAE.”
It discusses Dubai Customs’s role in protecting international trademarks, combating illicit trading and counterfeiting attempts, as well as developing the relevant customs procedures.
Also present at the launch were Mohammad Al Murr, chairman, Federal National Council and Ahmad Musabih, director, Dubai Customs.
Sultan Bin Sulayem, chairman, DP World and chairman, Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation said the book “is a good reference for the information included therein with respect to the history of Dubai, beginning of customs business, its stages of development and the efforts exerted by [Dubai Customs] to achieve its vision of being the leading customs department in the world supporting legitimate trade.”