Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) has opened an office in Cologne, Germany, to provide companies from Germany and other European countries with information and assistance aimed at helping them establish their business in Ras Al Khaimah. The move is a part of the Zone’s strategy to expand its business activities internationally.
The office will conduct marketing activities, provide information and meet potential clients on the one-to-one basis. In addition to attracting businesses to Ras Al Khaimah, the role of the German office is also strengthening of cooperation with German federal and state governments in trade as well as the industrial sectors.
“Europe is one of our three most important markets,” says Oussama El Omari, Chief Executive Officer of RAK FTZ, adding that “European companies already form 31% of our clients and one in four enquiries from Europe come from Germany.”
Official opening of the office was marked by a seminar for German companies on opportunities in Ras Al Khaimah and the UAE. The event attracted over 40 participants representing companies, professional associations, chambers of commerce and public authorities, such as representatives from the UAE Embassy in Germany, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany, along with representatives from German companies already registered in the RAK Free Trade Zone.
Commenting on the opening up of the office, El Omari said the new office will play a fundamental role in attracting German and European businesses to base their regional operations at the RAK FTZ by introducing potential investors to the business opportunities available at the RAK FTZ, the zone's state-of-the-art facilities, the perfect environment created at the zone to do various types of businesses, the word's most advanced infrastructural projects built at the zone, and the tax-free system.
“The office has unlimited opportunities to attract especially industrial projects to RAK Free Trade Zone, due to the strength of the German industrial sector”, added Oussama El Omari. “Thanks to the vision of H.H. Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Quassimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler, Ras Al Khaimah has become a key industrial hub in the UAE. We are determined to expand RAK’s industrial sector even further.”
More than 160 German companies have registered in RAKFTZ, including companies such as DHL, Innovida, German Label, RAK-German Engineering and ConvergInCommunications. The German company Knauf, one of the world’s leading producers of building materials, recently laid the foundation for its first gypsum board plant in the Middle East in Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone. Once completed, the plant, an investment of 500 million AED, will produce building materials such as gypsum boards, metal studs, channels, joint compounds, drywall accessories and plasters, for construction sites accross the UAE and the Middle East.
Commenting on this project and the opening of the German office, H.H. Sheikh Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qassimi, the Chairman of the Zone, said: “Bilateral relationships between Germany and Ras Al Khaimah have been expanding rapidly through increased trade, tourism and investment flows”. He highlighted the importance of Germany as a prominent European country with which Ras Al Khaimah Free Zone is keen to share very warm bilateral relationship characterized by strong government-to-government cooperation and highly productive business ties.
Sheikh Faisal also highlighted the importance of the zone's liaison office in Germany. He said that this office will play a fundamental role in attracting German and European businesses to base their operations at the RAK FTZ.
RAK FTZ, which was awarded to be the leading Emerging Free Zone in the region for a second year, has succeeded in registering almost 5000 companies including international branded companies such as Knauf, Dole, DHL and Amoun Pharmaceuticals whose business volume exceeds 10 billion AED.
