As part of its ongoing strategy to promote Dubai and its Free Zone as the hub for commodities trade and enterprise, DMCC, a Government of Dubai Authority, held its 4th annual London dinner this week.
Hosted at the ‘Shard’, the UK’s tallest building, the dinner brought together a wide range of guests who share an interest in Dubai and the DMCC, both which continue to grow strongly.
Attendees included His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 1st Secretary, Embassy of the UAE in London; Stephen Webster, Jewellery Designer and Founder of Stephen Webster Jewellery; Oliver Rothschild, Chairman, Oliver Rothschild Corporate Advisors; as well as British politicians, commodities traders and bankers and London based representatives of current and potential Free Zone and DGCX members. This year’s dinner saw over 100 guests attend, with around 40% of guests joining the event for the first time.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC, commented:
“The UAE is one of the UK’s largest export markets in the Middle East and the UK continues to be a major source of new members to the DMCC Free Zone as well as home to many of our current members. Out of the 8,700 businesses that are operating from our free zone today, around 8.5% or 735 are from the UK representing over 18% of all UK businesses in the UAE.
“Our London event allows us to thank our clients for their continued support as well as update everyone on our latest developments, especially the progress made on the development of the Burj 2020 District, which will be home to the world’s tallest commercial tower and help us to maintain our growth momentum into the next decade.”
Since DMCC started the London dinner series in 2010 the Free Zone has more than doubled the number of licenced members from 4,008 to 8,700 becoming the largest and fastest growing Free Zone in the UAE. Last week DMCC was awarded the fDi Free Zone of the Year for SMEs – Middle East and Africa; and the fDi Free Zone of the Year for SMEs – United Arab Emirates.
To view pictures from the event please visit our Facebook or flickr pages.