Member Article

Manchester's businesses learn how to trade with UAE at industry event

Swathes of business leaders from the City are a step closer to understanding how to trade with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after attending a seminar to learn how to deal with Middle Eastern firms.

Senior representatives from the Ajman Free Zone in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alongside Professor Amanda Broderick, dean at Salford Business School, recently hosted a High Tea Business Briefing and Networking Reception at The Palace Hotel in Manchester to discuss the issues associated with trading overseas.

His Excellency Mahmood Al Hashemi, director general of Ajman Free Zone who previously held the vice CEO of business development for Middle East and North Africa Zone in JAFZA (Jebel Ali Free Zone) and other key speakers, discussed a host of topics including the advantages, logistics and opportunities associated with conducting business with free zones in Ajman and the UAE. He said: “This event gave us the chance to show Manchester businesses the kind of relationships they could forge with UAE and discover how to trade out of the Ajman Free Zone. We were really encouraged with the turnout and will watch with interest how many go on to pursue investment opportunities.”

Amanda Broderick, dean at Salford Business School, added: “With already good connections and with more and more capacity to the UAE from Manchester Airport , there has never been a better time for Manchester businesses to look to expand their companies into Ajman and the Middle East. It was an honour to contribute to the event and let City firms know how they can benefit from investing in UAE.”

UK trading with the UAE is currently worth around £5.1bn a year and there are many lucrative opportunities available for all sectors from logistics to management media. Ajman Free Zone currently has over 7,000 companies of all shapes and sizes.

Ajman Free Zone’s deputy general manager, Nader Eldesouky, added: “Ajman Free Zone is deemed as one of the fastest growing free zones in the region that sees investors reap benefits such as repatriation of capital and profits and no personal income tax. We believe it will continue to grow over the years because time and energy is invested into the customer and the services offered to them.”

Rishi Somaiya, director of sales, added: “Ajman Free Zone is the first to offer flexible payment facilities to clients in up to twelve easy and convenient instalments. This payment facility will act as a springboard for entrepreneurs who find entry cost to business prohibitive and result in development.”

Elaborating on the Emirate’s many other attractions, Mr Somaiya continued: “Inexpensive energy, an extremely economic wage structure, total exemption from all import and export duties and exceptionally low handling charges, gives AFZA a collective competitive edge.”

Most recently, the Ajman Free Zone has also launched a new licence category for e-commerce enterprises, in addition to other existing licenses.

His Excellency Mahmoud Al Hashemi concluded: “By offering this new category of licence, Ajman Free Zone is moving with the times, with e-commerce transactions surging in the UAE.

In addition, the Free Zone offers various licensing options ranging from commercial to trading licenses, service to industrial licenses and provision of a competitive warehousing facility, called Smart Warehouse which allows investors to lease out space starting from as little as 100 sqm. As the facility is scalable, multiple units can be taken up to suit the clients’ requirements.“

Situated at the foot of the Arabian Gulf, the Ajman Free Zone is widely regarded as the ideal location for the supply of goods and services for the domestic and regional markets, allowing investors to reap the benefits. Other lucrative advantages to investing in Ajman Free Zone include inexpensive energy, an extremely economic wage structure, total exemption from all import and export duties and exceptionally low handling charges.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anthony Tattum .