UAE, Argentina to increase trade

Argentina, Latin America’s third largest economy, wants to strengthen its presence in Middle East markets. The country seeks to boost its agri-food and livestock exports particularly meat, fish and poultry into the region. A seven member delegation, led by Ruben Caro, Argentine Ambassador in the UAE, comprising Gustavo Al Varez, Undersecretary of Political Co-ordination at the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and other senior officials from the Agriculture Ministry including Walid Al Kaddour, Director, Chamber of Arabic-Argentine Commerce visited Jafza recently. The delegation was received by Ibrahim Mohamed Al Janahi, Deputy CEO, Jafza and Adil Al Zarooni, Senior Vice President, Global Sales. The delegation sought to strengthen commercial relations with Jafza and explore the various possibilities for establishing its regional base in the Free Zone. Ibrahim Al Janahi said of the visit: “We are more than happy to extend our full support to Argentinian businesses in their goals to extend their reach and presence in the region. As a facilitator and a trade and logistics hub we are committed to supporting our customers to serve the region as seamlessly and efficiently as possible.” The Argentina delegation to Jafza comes on the heels of a visit by Norbert Yahuar, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Argentina, earlier in the year to the UAE. During this visit he signed a joint statement of co-operation with the Department of Economic Development Dubai to boost commercial exchange in the agricultural, agri-food and livestock sectors. Adil Al Zarooni, in his presentation, briefed visiting delegates on the strategic strength of Jafza as a trade and logistics hub to reach the markets in the Middle East, Africa, the CIS and South Asia comprising a consumer base of more than 2 billion people. “Jafza is the only multi-modal logistics platform in the region and perhaps in the world, which is located between the region’s two largest enablers, Jebel Ali Port and Al Maktoum International Airport,” Al Zarooni said. Argentine Ambassador announced that the Argentinian Government is fully committed to strengthening bilateral trade relations between the two countries and mentioned that an impending delegation comprising government institutions and leading businesses from Argentina will soon visit the UAE and Jafza to take this initiative forward to the next level. Trade between Argentina and the UAE was worth Dhs1.1 billion ($300 million) in 2011. Meat and poultry constitute a major share of Argentinean exports to the UAE. Argentina-Jafza trade in 2010 reached Dhs195 million ($54 million), up 170 per cent from its trade of Dhs72 million ($20 billion) in 2005. Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) is one of the world’s leading free zones. Established in 1985, Jafza is today home to over 6,700 companies, including more than 120 of the Global Fortune 500 enterprises from across the world. It is a leading driver of the burgeoning UAE economy. Jafza is the region’s most efficient logistics hub and the only one in the world located between a top container terminal (Jebel Ali Port) and a top international airport (Al Maktoum International Airport), enabling the best in multi-modal connectivity. As the leading business hub of the Middle East, it focuses on long term customer relationships and fosters alliances with global investors by providing them world class infrastructure duly supported with quality driven value added services and incentives, enabling them to avail huge business opportunities in the region, in the most efficient way. Earlier last month Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade (MOFT), has discussed with a visiting Argentinean delegation ways of strengthening and developing joint UAE-Argentinean investment in the South American country’s agricultural sector and removing barriers to Emirati investors wishing to invest in the sector. From gulftoday