Sulltan bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation delivered the key note at Ideas Arabia 12th International 2017 on its first day 10th May 2017 at Four Seasons Jumeira Hotel.
Bin Sulayem pointed out that the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai has turned innovative ideas into leading achievements that catapulted Dubai into greater heights saying that Dubai’s success is based on “our confidence and belief in ourselves and our potential”.
Bin Sulayem pointed out that Dubai has carried out a number of ambitious projects like the development of Jebel Ali, JAFZA, and palm islands. Sectors such as trade, tourism and electronic transformation have advanced noticeably.
He added: “We started work on Jebel Ali Free Zone in 1985 without any fear or skepticism. We had feasibility studies in place and were confident of our capability of attracting international firms. The first day JAFZA was established we received 300 applications from different companies that wanted to establish their offices and projects in Jebel Ali. We managed to achieve year on year growth in non-oil external trade to reach a volume of more than 90 million tons” he explained. Bin Sulayem talked about the emirate’s experience in developing palm islands which Dubai needed to increase the length of its beaches following the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed.
Bin Sulayem added: “We started our journey with developing ports in the seventies with a future vision of turning Dubai into a trade and investment hub in the region. In the eighties we built the free zones, including Jebel Ali Free Zone, and in the nineties we gave more attention and focus to tourism. As of the year 2000, we started developing IT and online trade systems”.
“Dubai’s power in turning challenges into opportunities is evident in the way it dealt with a number of crisis in the past. The emirate’s experience is a living example of how wise the leadership is in dealing with regional and international crises into real opportunities. The Iraq-Iran was in the eighties is an example of this. The whole area was declared a war zone and that raised the cost of vessel insurance. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed ordered that government cover all insurance costs on vessels coming to the emirate. This made international shipping lines turn their heads again towards Dubai” DP World Group Chairman concluded.
Ideas Arabia hosts its 12th annual International Conference & Competition to provide a forum where experts in Suggestion & Rewarding Scheme from around the world attended to speak. The aim of this conference is to bring to the Middle East, the latest developments in the Suggestion & Rewarding Scheme and how implementing this will benefit an organization, and thus create a platform for people in this region to share their best practices in this area.
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