Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DP World said in a statement during the “Innovation or Extinction Forum” organized by DGEP at the Innovation Week 2016 event:
“The great achievements of Dubai have created tremendous investment opportunities that can effectively utilize our internal assets and attract external money from international banks. Our banks in the past had to transfer the surplus money to other international banks because there weren’t enough projects to contain and utilize these funds. Thanks to the strategic vision of our leaders all of this has changed. Since the 70’s we’ve built distinguished ports to accommodate for a future expansion vision, especially JAFZA, one of our biggest success stories.
“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai taught us that to reach the top you need to know how to systematically tackle change by following strict plans. We had to think out of the box when it came to establishing JAFZA in 1985. We studied the project in detail by studying other world free zones and we were confident that JAFZA would succeed if we provided enough incentives to attract multinational companies to work and invest in our market. The very first day JAFZA started, we received 300 applications from big companies who wanted to work from Jebel Ali” he added.
“The 80’s saw many challenges. On top of these was the Iraq-Iran war which forced companies to increase insurance value on vessels, and that led to a big increase in the overall cost of shipping. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solved the issue by declaring Dubai’s readiness to pay the insurance and that helped attract maritime activity” he explained.
After the statement, bin Sulayem toured the exhibition that was set up on the side lines of the Forum and had a chance to view the innovative exhibits.