New Council General of Turkey visits Jafza

HE Erdem Ozan, the new Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Dubai, visited Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) yesterday. He sought to further strengthen bilateral trade relations with the Free Zone. 

HE the Consul General was received by Ibrahim Mohamed AlJanahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza and Chief Commercial Officer of Economic Zones World, the parent company of Jafza, Adil Al Zarooni, SVP-Sales and Dr Mohammad AlBanna, VP –Commercial Services, at the Free Zone. 

Ibrahim AlJanahi welcoming the Consul General dwelt upon the warm commercial and cultural ties Dubai and Turkey had been enjoying for the last several decades. He extended his full support to the Consul general’s interest in further boosting Jafza – Turkey trade relations, which would eventually mean greater presence of Turkish goods across the Middle East that Jafza as a hub serves. 

AlJanahi said: “We fully endorse the Consul General’s focus on bolstering Jafza – Turkey trade and invite more and more Turkish companies to join Jafza to serve the rapidly growing Middle East markets that Jafza as a trade and logistics hub, serves. 

“Turkey, as per their 2023 vision, wants to more than triple its exports to hit USD 500 billion on the 100^th anniversary of the Republic. Middle East can be a good substitute to Europe, Turkey’s major market, which is running through an economically challenging time these days. We extend our full support to Turkish entrepreneurs to use Jafza’s unique platform to serve the rapidly growing Middle East markets.” 

Aljanahi briefed the Consul General Jafza’s key offerings that have made the Free Zone the trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region that includes West and South Asia, Africa and the CIS. “Jafza is home to the largest number of world’s top multinationals. These companies have together generated trade worth over USD 90 billion in 2013,” he said. 

Jafza is currently home to more than 90 leading Turkish companies such as AKSA, HDF, Empa, INCO International and Ibrakom among others. Jafza - Turkey trade has seen a compound annual growth of more than 22% between 2004 and 2013. The bilateral trade is expected to cross USD 900 million in the current fiscal.

Turkey’s major exports to Jafza includes machinery, iron and steel and products made thereof, electrical and electronic products.