Dubai: The Dubai Media Office, on Monday night, released tweets to rebuff baseless allegations raised against UAE-made products and their authenticity in the Saudi market.
According to the tweets, there has been an ongoing malicious smear campaign against Emirati-produced goods, specifically from the Jebel Ali Free Zone, claiming that the products were not authentic.
In a series of tweets, the media office here said that these allegations were false. The authority said these baseless allegations are leveled against the Jebel Ali Free Zone, a base for over 7,500 companies from around the world.
Some media reported that Saudi activists were behind the campaign calling for a boycott of Emirati products. However, the Dubai Media Office clarified in its posts that investigations showed that the false campaign was perpetrated by social media users from outside Saudi Arabia.
The tweets mention that the campaigners raised false claims as to the quality control of products made in the UAE for export. The authority added that all products made in the UAE have to adhere to strict standards set by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology - which is an globally-accredited standardisation body in the UAE.
The campaign, the media body added, was designed to create tension in the trade relations between the two countries.
There are some electrical products that are for export purposes only and are prohibited from being traded in UAE markets. The reason for this is purely technical like the type of the electric plug and because of the different electrical load according to the country.
The UAE exports products to 198 countries and markets worldwide, and the UAE accounts for 26 per cent of the region’s non-oil trade, and is the region’s fourth biggest exporter.
Dubai's foreign trade in 2018 touched Dh 1.3 trillion and is set to make records this year as well. More than 130 countries around the world use food products manufactured in the Jebel Ali Free Zone and this is an international recognition of their quality, safety and conformity to the specifications in those countries.
'Code 629'
Dubai Media office has also rubbished the claims related to Code 629. The Code 629 does not indicate that the product was necessarily made in the UAE, but it points to headquarters of the company, which issued this code, Media Office tweeted.
- With inputs from Khitam Al Amir, Chief Translator
