Bin Sulayem visits Dubai Trade new Head Office in Jebel Ali

Dubai Trade, the innovative trade facilitating entity of Dubai World, represents the original vision of Dubai as a leading hub for e-business and unrivalled trade competitiveness, said HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman, DP World. 

He made the remarks during his visit to Dubai trade’s new head office in the Galleries in Downtown Jebel Ali. The ceremony was attended by, Mohammed Sharaf, Chief Executive Officer, DP World, Mohammed Al Muallem, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, DP World, UAE Region, Mahmood Al Bastaki, Director, Dubai Trade, Farid Mohammed Ahmed, Secretary General, Dubai World, and other senior officials. 

The new head office caps a long period of robust growth for Dubai Trade and its portfolio of integrated innovative services designed to serve the growing clientele of DP World, Economic Zones World, Dubai Customs and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC). 

Today, Dubai Trade offers its customers 758 e-services, 12% more than the services offered in 2009 and almost 10 times the number it offered when it was established in 2003. The number of registered companies using the portal has risen to over 42,400 at the end of March this year, from 5,000 eight years ago. Over 11.4 million transactions were conducted through its portal www.dubaitrade.ae last year, a remarkable 26% increase compared to the transactions recorded in 2009. 

Commending the remarkable growth of the online portal, HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman, DP World, said, “Dubai Trade represents the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to use technology to transform the way Dubai does business in this age of the Internet, and establish this emirate as the unrivalled trading hub of the region. Dubai Trade, under Mahmood Al Bastaki and his hard-working team, has achieved this goal with remarkable speed and professionalism. We congratulate them on their success.” 

Speaking on behalf of Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, Group CEO, Dubai World, and Chairman, Dubai Trade, Mr Al Muallem said, “Technology makes business easier and delivers enormous savings to the supply chain industry. That is why 75 per cent of Jebel Ali Port’s customers do business online – and all of them through Dubai Trade’s portal. The vibrant and dynamic portal created by Dubai Trade has contributed measurably to the growth of trade and sharpened the global competitive edge of the UAE as a whole. Dubai Trade has shown the way forward by strengthening e-commerce. We are confident they will achieve many more milestones.” 

By offering some of the most user friendly and efficient solutions, Dubai Trade has effectively streamlined trade flow in this country, earning it praise in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” Report for 2011. The report ranked the UAE the 3rd best country in the world for enabling trading across borders. 

Mahmood Al Bastaki, Director, Dubai Trade, said, “As a trade facilitation entity, Dubai Trade’s core activity is business process re-engineering. Our goal is to offer end-to-end supply chain integration to the vast community of importers and exporters and deliver value addition to their businesses through our e-services. As Dubai Trade begins a new phase in its expansion with a new head office, we are grateful for the support and guidance we have received from HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem and from our stakeholders.” 

In a reflection of its growing popularity among trading companies, Dubai Trade launched a new updated version of its portal earlier this year, adding new features and tools for e-transactions.