Chaired by Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs (DC), Chairman of Dubai Customs’ Consultative Council, the Council’s first meeting in 2018 convened this week and was attended by heads of business and trade groups, members of the Council. Boosting cooperation and partnership between DC and business and trade groups in Dubai was one of the main topics on the meeting’s agenda. The meeting also discussed the initiatives suggested by clients to contribute to the development of services and customs facilitation efforts.
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The meeting was attended by Abdullah Mohammed Al Khaja, Executive Director of Clients Management Division and Farid Hassan Al Marzouqi, Executive Director, Human Resources, Finance and Administration Division, Ibrahim Al Kamali, director of passenger operations at Dubai Customs, and a number of directors.
Musabih welcomed the members and pointed out the meeting will help engage clients and business groups in achieving the future goals of Dubai Customs which fall in line with the UAE Vision 2020 and UAE Centennial 2071 following the wise vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.
“Dubai Customs has already succeeded in achieving part of this vision by becoming a leading customs department worldwide in terms of services and logistics which helps the Department top competitiveness indexes. These achievements wouldn’t have happened without the effective cooperation and partnership with the clients and their fruitful suggestions” he said.
“Topping the Arab countries and coming in the 21st place internationally on the happiness index that involved 156 countries is a source of pleasure and pride for us. More than 200 nationalities live in a safe and happy environment in the UAE thanks to the wise vision of our leadership. This vision has also helped raise number of passengers in 2017 to 126.5m, out of which 88.2m into Dubai. Dubai’s Non-oil external trade reached AED 1.302 trillion” he added.
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Musabih pointed out that Dubai Customs has different programs and projects that support legitimate trade which include the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO). Nearly 23% of declarations today are carried out using the program, and this percentage is expected to go up to 50% by 2020.
The Director of Dubai Customs also talked about the recent government resolutions that support different business sectors including not increasing the fees for the next three years.
A film on the Late Sheikh Zayed and his role in founding and developing the UAE was displayed. Nassim Al Mehairi, Manager of Statistics Section at Dubai Customs had a presentation on the performance of Dubai external trade in 2017 which reached AED 1.302tr registering a Dh26 billion increase from 2016 figures.
Dubai’s re-exports grew 9 per cent in 2017 to Dh360 billion, while imports touched Dh798 billion and exports totalled Dh144 billion. The emirate’s foreign free zone trade grew 5 per cent to Dh434 billion, while direct trade touched Dh829 billion and customs warehouse trade weighed in at Dh39 billion.
A number of heads of businesses, members of the executive council had their say in the meeting. Tawhid Abdulla, Chairman of Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group had a presentation on Dubai’s potentials and factors of success in gold trade. These factors have enabled the emirate to be a regional and international hub for gold and jewellery trade. Abdulla also highlighted the importance of close cooperation and partnership with Dubai Customs to develop this sector which is witnessing fierce completion in the region.
Mahish Advanim Honorary Vice Chairman of Texmas had a presentation on the textile trade in the emirate. He said that development in this sector led to the setup of local factories that not only produce textiles and clothes for the local market, but exports to the regional market as well.
On her part, Nadia Abdul Aziz, President of National Association of Freight and Logistics Group talked about the importance of this sector in facilitating the businesses of traders and corporates in support of the national economy and business activity.