Dubai Customs holds meeting with Oman Trade representatives

DUBAI 17th November 2015 (WAM) -- As part of "Irtibat" initiative to nurture closer ties between Dubai customs (DC) and diplomatic missions and business councils Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem Chairman of DP World and Chairman of Ports Customs and Free Zone Corporation has chaired an expanded meeting with a delegation from Oman Commercial Office in Dubai and Oman Business Council for Dubai and Northern Emirates.

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih Director of Dubai Customs and Abdullah Mohammed Al-Khaja Executive Director of Customer Management Division at Dubai Customs attended the meeting.

The Omani delegation to the meeting comprised Salem bin Muslim Samhan Al Kathiry Director of Oman Commercial Office in Dubai and Nabil Daud Chairman of Oman Business Council for Dubai as well as representatives from Omani businesses members of the council.

"Economic and trade relations between the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman are particularly important due to geographical proximity and historical links between the two countries" Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said while congratulating the visiting delegation on the establishment of Oman Business Council in July at the beginning of the meeting.

For his part Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said: "Trade and economic cooperation between the UAE and Oman has developed over the past decades reaching its peak with the establishment of the GCC Customs Union which gave a strong impetus for cooperation between the two countries. We are very focused on addressing any impediments that may hinder the development of our relations and mutual cooperation. This is why we dedicated this meeting today with our Omani counterparts to listen to all their comments about our performance in order to develop the way we run our business and meet all the requirements of our clients. This also comes in line with our dedicated approach to increase clients satisfaction which has already exceeded 91% ."

Salem bin Muslim Samhan Al Kathiry stressed his willingness to enhance cooperation with Dubai Customs to serve the common interests of the UAE and Oman and to boost trade exchange between the two countries through better coordination between Omani corporates and DC.

Dubai Customs seeks enhanced cooperation with Oman Commercial Office in Dubai and Oman Business Council for Dubai and Northern Emirates through the Itribat initiative to establish a constant communication channel with business councils and corporates based in Dubai said Musabih. He emphasized that enhanced cooperation and coordination with Omani corporates was essential since Oman had become Dubai's second largest trading partner among GCC states. "Dubai-Oman trade tripled between 2011 and 2014 which encourages us to further our collaboration with Omani traders and corporates to achieve more growth."

Nabil Daud hoped that the meeting will trigger a series of consecutive meetings to develop the economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Edris Behzad Client Management Director briefed the visiting delegation on "Irtibat" initiative and how it improves DC's communication with diplomatic missions and business councils based in Dubai.

Nassim Al Mehairi Senior Manager of Statistics Section at the Strategy and Corporate Excellence Department delivered a presentation on the evolvement of trade with Oman revealing that the value of Dubai's non-oil trade with Oman in the first half of 2015 reached AED 11.9 billion compared to AED 10.5 billion in the first half of 2014.