Nakheel, the UAE's premier property developer, set out how it was gaining the "competitive edge" through global partnerships in a keynote speech at the 9th Annual GCC Engineering Societies Conference, held in Manama, Bahrain.
Held between 12 – 13 December 2005, the conference is organized under the patronage of Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain.
Nakheel, representing the UAE Engineering Society, were nominated to give the inaugural session's keynote address, which was given by key Engineer Abdulrahman Kalantar, General Manager of Planning, Infrastructure and Utilities Division and the General Manager Arabian Canal Project. Emphasizing the advantages of moving beyond "the client contractor relationship", Kalantar detailed Nakheel's experience in creating added value by strategic alliances and pooling of expertise via global venture relationships. He set out the conditions required for effective and innovative real estate partnerships, which he believed were key factors in Nakheel gaining its "competitive edge."
Engineer Kalantar said, “It is a great honor for Nakheel to be chosen to give the keynote speech at such a prestigious conference, and a recognition that we have led the way in the region in creating effective global partnerships. Our partnerships spread across a whole variety of sectors. For example, Nakheel has a variety of joint ventures that share vital technical expertise, such as our partnership with Hyflux, Asia's leading fluid management company, who are working with us to develop our desalination facilities on The Palm and potentially across our whole portfolio of projects, but also partnerships that enable us to share marketing, branding and sales expertise, such as our recent exclusive deal with The Trump Organization to develop 17 Trump branded projects in the Middle East.
"Such global partnerships help provide several key competitive advantages; when you move beyond the client-contractor relationship to a committed partnership you can develop and share expertise over an extended period, and this long term vision results in a greater commitment to research and economically sustainable solutions. This is less feasible with short term contracts. One also has the potential to access new markets; it is however important to make sure that an extensive due diligence exercise is undertaken prior to choosing partners, and Nakheel has placed great emphasis on working with market leaders such as Van Oord, IFA, ETA, Hyflux, The Trump Organization and Kerzner International. It is this strategic approach which is giving us our competitive edge in building the vision of Dubai."
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
