RAKFTZ Receives Indian & Japanese high profile delegations
The Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) held yesterday wide-ranging discussions with a high level Indian business delegation on expanding trade and investment cooperation between Ras Al Khaimah and India.
Oussama El Omari, CEO of the RAK FTZ received at the zone's premises the visiting Indian delegation presided by Ambika Sharma, the Assistant Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, along with Goutam Ghosh, the federation's Deputy Director, in the presence of Mr. Partha Ray, of the Indian Consulate General in Dubai.
The RAK FTZ and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry discussed the possibilities of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to jointly promote trade& industry between the two countries.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry was set up in 1927 with a nationwide membership of over 1500 corporates and over 50 chambers of commerce and speaks directly and indirectly for over 250,000 business units.
Welcoming the Indian business delegation, El Omari expressed satisfaction on the fruitful cooperation that exists between RAK FTZ and India across various sectors and stressed the zone's commitment to further expand business ties between Ras Al Khaimah and India.
He said that India and UAE shared historically strong relations in trade and commerce, which have now entered an exciting new phase of rapid growth. He stressed that closer business ties between the two parties would open up new avenues of cooperation between Ras Al Khaimah and India.
El Omari said the trade exchange between the UAE and India enjoys continued improvement, pointing out that the volume of trade exchange between the UAE and India is expected to exceed $ 25 billions in 2009. He added that the UAE is a major destination for the Indian exports, which exceeded $ 10 billions compared to the imports, which is 7.5 billions in the years 2006, and 2007, he added.
El Omari expressed satisfaction on the fruitful business cooperation that exists between Ras Al Khamah and India across various sectors, and that cooperation is perfectly manifested as the Indian companies reached 35% of the total registered companies in the RAK FTZ by the end of 2007.
Big Indian registered companies with RAKFTZ are Cumi Middle East FZE - Murrugappa Group, Kotak Commodities – Kotak Mahindra Ltd, Direct Information FZC & Vaults Suisse FZE – 1st ever private locker in UAE.
He said that the RAK FTZ liaison office in Mumbai of India has landed on real success in attracting Indian businesses and investments, and played a fundamental role in rolling out the red carpet for the Indian investments. The office has brilliantly introduced potential Indian investors to the zone's state of the art facilities.
Ambika Sharma hailed the rapid development of business ties between Ras Al Khaimah and India. She stressed that India attached prime importance to developing closer ties with Ras Al Khaimah. She highlighted the extended efforts the RAK FTZ exerts to facilitate the registration of the Indian companies either through the liaison office in Mumbai or directly at the zone's head premises, which ended the Ras Al Khaimah as a regional investment hub.
El Omari also received Kinji Santo, the Japanese Consul General in Dubai and held with him wide ranging discussions aimed at boosting business and investment relations between Ras Al Khaimah and Japan.
El Omari welcomed the Japanese Consul General and expressed hope that the visit would open up new avenues of cooperation between Ras Al Khaimah and Japan.
The visit aims to provide opportunity to further promote cooperation between Ras Al Khaimah and Japan, exchange of experiences between the two sides and establish coordination with the Japanese Consulate General to attract more Japanese investments to the RAK FTZ.
The Japanese Consulate General in Dubai expressed his view to open new Japanese educational centers in Ras Al Khaimah to promote its various cultures in the region.
At the premises of the RAK FTZ, the Japanese Consul General was introduced to the state-of- the- art facilities the zone provides to its clients. Ghanem Salem Ghanem, the Sales Assistant Manager at the RAK FTZ said the zone provides its clients with full-scale services. He stressed that the services provided by the RAK FTZ are prompt, reliable and professional.
Ghanem said the RAK FTZ is keen to attract more Japanese investments, giving the potential investors tempting offers to set up their regional bases at the RAK FTZ.
The Japanese Consul General paid a field visit to the RAK FTZ Industrial Park, where he visited the venues of key Japanese companies registered with the zone.
The Japanese Consul General said his country was quite interested in activating the trade relations with UAE in general and between Ras Al Khaimah and Japan in particular. He added that Japan was looking forward to having new partnerships involving sharing of experience, and exchanging of bilateral visits.
