Dubai Chamber tackles challenges faced by businesses

Dubai / WAM

As part of its efforts to support and protect the interests of Dubai’s business community, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the 2nd roundtable meeting of 2016, which gathered representatives of various business councils and groups operating under its umbrella.
During the meeting which was attended by Abdulla Al Maeeni, Director-General, Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA), participants discussed some of the major challenges facing businesses in the emirate, most notably the acquisition of funds for the small and medium enterprises, and the means to curb rising costs of operating their businesses.
Several solutions and recommendations were outlined to address these obstacles. As a leading representative of the private sector, Dubai Chamber regularly seeks suggestions from the business community, which it channels to relevant government authorities.
In his welcome address, Atiq Juma Nasib, Senior Vice-President, Commercial Services Sector, Dubai Chamber, stressed the importance of strengthening existing partnerships between the public and private sectors, which he said is one of the pillars of Dubai’s economic success.
The roundtables hosted by the Chamber offer an important platform to facilitate dialogue between the public and private sectors, ultimately enhancing competitiveness of the wider economy, he stated.
Highlighting the value of the Dubai Chamber members’ exports and re-exports during the first nine months of 2016, Nasib informed that it amounted to AED201.8 billion, while the members’ monthly exports and re-exports in February this year hit a record AED24.3 billion.
During the first nine months of this year over 11,900 new companies joined Dubai Chamber, increasing its network of members to 193,000, he added.
“Our recently launched results of the second Dubai Innovation Index, showed that Dubai has made significant improvements as it moved up to secure the 15th position amongst the world’s top 28 global innovative cities while increased public-private sector collaboration was one of the key factors that helped the emirate make remarkable progress,” Nasib said.
Al Maeeni praised the effective role of the Dubai Chamber in bringing the public and private sectors together, which he said acted as a link to connect the main economic sectors in the UAE to work together, develop their services as well as exchange knowledge.
ESMA believes that a strong partnership with the private sector in developing and implementing standards for all successful trading activities are important for the economic progress of the emirate, he stated.
His organisation is working non-stop to support innovation and capacity building, and knowledge, through the development of legislation and regulations and their effective implementation while supporting communication and exchange of ideas between manufacturers, traders and government organisations, the ESMA Director-General added.
The representatives of the business councils and groups lauded the Dubai Chamber’s strong support to the private sector which extends to participating in trade delegations, high-profile events, workshops and seminars that help businesses explore trade and investment opportunities in new markets.