Jafza achieves remarkable success at Sial – Paris

Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), the flagship Free Zone of Dubai and trade and logistics hub of the Middle East region attracted a large number of food and beverage (F&B) companies from Europe and Americas at Sial-Paris, one of the largest F&B Exhibitions in the world. Jafza participated in the exhibition for the third time. Jafza and DP World were together and were part of the UAE Pavilion. 

Jafza received more than 600 serious queries during the 5-day event. Most of the companies visiting Jafza stand were interested in using Jafza for establishing their regional hubs to serve the rapidly growing affluent markets in West Asia including the Gulf Cooperative Council member countries, the CIS and Africa, the greater Middle East region that Jafza as a hub serves. Some companies were quite keen to serve the rapidly growing Halal products market in the Middle East for which Jafza is building the region’s first Halal Zone as all-inclusive hub to serve each and every need of customers in the Halal supply chain. 

Jafza team in Sial-Paris was led by Tariq Bin Ghalaita, Vice President – Europe and UAE Region and comprised Abdulaziz Redha, Assistant Manager – Europe Region, Ahmad Bin Harib, Senior Manager – Americas and Mania Merrikhi, Project Manager, Marketing and Communication. 

Tariq Bin Ghalaita commenting on the Jafza participation in Sial-Paris said: 

“The Middle East is one of the world’s fastest growing regions for food and beverage industry. Jafza as a hub facilitates all Jafza companies to serve these lucrative markets most efficiently. This is the reason why most of the leading names in the sector have chosen Jafza for their regional headquarters. We hope more businesses from Europe, Americas and other developed economies come to Jafza to capitalize on the emerging opportunities. 

“The overwhelming response we have received from the leading F&B companies from the developed and developing economies reinforces Jafza’s status as the most favoured destination for investors who want to serve the rapidly expanding GCC, Africa and the CIS markets.” 

Jafza stand was visited by several dignitaries including HE Abdullah Al Saleh, Under Secretary, Ministry of Economy and HE Hamad Al Zaabi, Diplomat-in-Charge of UAE Embassy in Paris. 

Some Latin American countries were interested in setting up incubation centres in Jafza to facilitate entrepreneurs from their respective countries to explore business opportunities in the region before establishing fully-fledged operations.  

Jafza has pioneered the concept of Incubation Centre to attract and support SMEs in the Free Zone. The incubation facility helps SMEs to explore business prospects in the region at a very nominal cost. Incubation Centre is essentially a collaborative initiative between Jafza and the interested country to support SMEs. Under the scheme Jafza offers incubator facility to the Trade Development Agency, who in turn allocates spaces in the centre to interested SMEs from the country. 

Jafza is currently home to more than 700 leading multinationals in Food and Beverage and Healthcare sector, who have established their regional headquarters in the Free Zone to serve the entire Middle East region. The sector generated trade worth USD 7.5 billion in 2013. 

The GCC countries in particular and Middle East in general rely heavily on imports for their food requirements. More than 90% of its total food requirement is met through imports. 

Strong GDP growth and increasing per capita income continues to drive the food consumption in the GCC countries. The region’s GDP is expected to reach USD 1.8 trillion by 2017. The per capita income in the region is likely to hit USD 36,839 by then. 

High dependence on imports creates huge opportunities for global companies in the F&B sector in the Middle East and to be in Jafza, the hub for the region. Jafza is part of Dubai based Economic Zones World.