Dubai: Dubai Exports announced on Wednesday that it is leading a trade trip to Kenya as it sharpens its focus on the fast-growing markets of East Africa.
The five-day mission is part of moves to further strengthen bilateral exchanges and connect UAE companies to African markets. It will include conferences and 100 business-to-business (B2B) meetings to help familiarise UAE firms with government tender and export procedures. In addition, there will be meetings with senior officials and government agencies as well as site visits to the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa.
UAE companies from the industrial, food, trade, construction, commodities, security and clean energy sectors will take part in the trade mission
According to a statement, Dubai Exports has organised a business forum in Mombasa together with the local government and the UAE Embassy in Kenya.
“We will support the UAE companies and seek to learn from their experiences in the fields of quality of service and speed of delivery,” Ali Hassan Joho, Governor of Mombasa, said. “We are striving to develop our investment infrastructure in Mombasa to facilitate such partnerships, and we thank Dubai Exports and the UAE Government for their continued co-operation through these forums and initiatives to promote our bilateral relations.”
According to Dubai Exports, political stability and competitive human capital, along with a strong agricultural sector and transport infrastructure, have helped Kenya to lead the East African Community (EAC) by a 40 per cent GDP share. In 2014 Kenya was ranked 136 by the World Bank in the Ease of doing business and 133 in Trade Across Borders.
“Kenya is key to Dubai’s standing as a supply chain hub for Africa, as well as to any effective strategy to tap East Africa,” Engineer Saed Al Awadi, chief executive officer of Dubai Exports, said. “Connecting to Kenya will open up new possibilities for the growing number of manufacturers and exporters in the UAE who are looking towards emerging markets worldwide.”
