Dubai to get Dh 1.1 billion German development

Business ties between Germany and the UAE are expected to further strengthen with the launch of German Business Park, a large mixed-use development designed to serve as a hub for German business in the UAE and the GCC region.

Sprawled across 880,000 sq foot, the EUR 200 million (Dh 1.1 billion) German Business Park is located within the central district of Dubai Silicon Oasis.

The Park will offer office space for sale and lease, a state-of-the-art business hotel operated by a major German hotel operator, studios and apartments, a luxury European shopping complex with world-class shops and restaurants, an enclosed garden plaza, roof terraces, and an atrium.

At the ground breaking ceremony this morning, Foreign Trade Minister Shaikha Lubna Bint Khaled Al Qasimi, said, “Our economic ties with Germany have never been stronger than today. I believe that the ground-breaking of German Business Park represents another important milestone in our ever-evolving partnership. As the UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, I am particularly pleased that the initiators have chosen Dubai as the location of German Business Park. The decision reflects the great amount of trust the UAE enjoys among its key international business partners.''

An increasing number of renowned German companies are choosing to base their regional headquarters in the UAE. According to recent statistics, German bilateral trade with the UAE has reached the equivalent of more than $9.8 billion in 2007.

Commenting on the economic ties between the two countries, Johann-Adolf Cohausz, German Consul General in Dubai, said, “Ever since Germany engaged in a strategic partnership with the UAE in 2004, business relations between our two countries have been thriving. The UAE is our most important trading partner in the entire Arab World, and the number of German companies operating here has risen to more than 600. I am confident that German Business Park will constitute a further stimulus for German business activity in the region.''

Suggesting this is the best time for German companies to come here, general manager of German Business Park, Dagmar Abdelatif, said, “At the moment we have a community of 7000 Germans here… Shaikha Lubna announced (the launch of) German Business Park. A lot of bilateral ties are being forged between local and German companies.''

The park will mainly attract German establishments, although, Dagmar insisted “it will also be open to German speaking communities, local companies representing German companies, and German companies in joint venture with local partner''.

“The shops will offer Germany at its best through designer shops, delis, gastronomy concepts which are not none in the region yet but have are a big name back in Germany.''

The park will largely be recruiting locally, but will also have opportunities for Germans.

“I think it is very important to have authenticity, which means we are not just developers but will also be managing the whole project after its completion, she added.

Scheduled for completion in late 2009, German Business Park is a joint venture between the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and the Bin Jabr Group of Abu Dhabi, and is slated to become one of the world's largest German-themed business clusters.

Fast Facts
The cost: EUR 200 million (AED 1.1 billion)
Location: central district of Dubai Silicon Oasis
Area: 880,000 square foot
Designed by: Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering
The complex will also house the first-ever privately financed German Centre Dubai

The building's environment friendly systems will include solar cooling, cool light, curtain wall system and solar collector modules for high-tech shade system.

Scheduled for completion in late 2009, German Business Park will be an ecologically green building

For further information about German Business Park, please visit www.gbpfzco-dubai.com