UAE chambers urged to work more closely with local businesses

Sharjah: The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has urged the country's different chambers of commerce to strengthen working relationships with local businesses to help reinforce the effort to create more investment opportunities for the UAE.

The call for stronger ties was made yesterday during the first Forum of Business Councils in the UAE held at the SCCI headquarters in Sharjah,

Present during the forum were Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, minister of foreign trade, who delivered the keynote address; Ahmad Mohammad Al Midfa, SCCI chairman, who welcomed the gathering; Hussain Mohammad Al Mahmoudi, SCCI director-general; Sudesh Agarwal, president of the Indian Business and Professional Council; and Joseph Elias Nahra, chairman of the Lebanese Business Council-Dubai.

Al Midfa said, "The UAE has experienced steady economic growth over the past few decades, which is one of the main reasons the country has continuously attracted foreign investments. In this regard, the SCCI hosted this pioneering forum to help define a mutual and strategic work plan that not only seeks to complement the government's development initiatives but also help position the UAE as a global destination for business and investment."

Sharjah Shurooq CEO Marwan Al Sarkal spoke about Sharjah's geographical aspects, as well as the emirate's infrastructure, air transport and investment attraction factors in the commercial, industrial and the tourism sectors in particular.

"Sharjah is the third largest of the seven emirates forming the UAE, and its reputation as a regional trade center is well-known. The emirate is also notable for its pivotal location along the international trade intersection, and it is the only emirate to have land on both the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, making it an active terminal for transportation, re-transportation and marine transportation, with modern ports and infrastructure," he said.

"By the end of 2008, Sharjah's gross domestic product had risen to Dh71 billion from Dh41 billion in 2005, with a recorded annual growth rate of 11 per cent over the last five years," said Al Sarkal.