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The Dubai-Osaka Economic Partnership Forum launched

DUBAI — The Dubai-Osaka Economic Partnership forum was launched yesterday in the Japanese city of Osaka, organised by the Dubai Municipality and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), in cooperation with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, and Index Conference and exhibition Organisations.

The opening ceremony of the forum was attended by Yotaka Tajasoki, Deputy Governor of Osaka city, Qasim Sultan, Director General of the Dubai Municipality, Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee, Director General of DCCI, Salma Hareb, CEO of Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, Raja Al Gurg, President of Women's Business Council in Dubai, in addition to Saeed Al Nuwais, Ambassador of the UAE to Japan, and a large number of businessmen, investors and economists from both countries and people from the press.

His Excellency Yotaka Tajasoki, Deputy Governor of Osaka, inaugurated the forum with a speech in which he welcomed the UAE delegation headed by Qasim Sultan, highlighting the economic and trade relations between the UAE and Japan in general, and Dubai and Osaka in particular.

"It has been three years since we established a partnership between Osaka province and Dubai Municipality, and we are honoured to host the first Dubai-Osaka Economic Partnership forum here which is considered the biggest Japanese forum of its kind to be organised with Dubai," said Tajasoki.

He said: "Hosting this significant forum in Osaka aimed at strengthening and enhancing the current relationship between the two cities, hoping that the forum would provide a great opportunity for the business community and other economic figures in Japan, Osaka in particular, to be introduced to the attractive opportunities of investment in Dubai, in addition to upgrading cooperation with their counterparts in the UAE, Dubai in particular."

Qasim Sultan, Director General of Dubai Municipality, praised the efforts done to arrange this forum in Osaka which would help strengthening the economic and trade relations between both countries. He also hailed the participation of UAE national women in the forum which reflects the significant role of national women and their contribution in the economic process of the country.

Abdul Rahman Al Mutaiwee, director general of the DCCI, emphasised the similarities between the two cities of Dubai and Osaka, mainly in sea shipping. He said: "The forum is a starting point for enhancing and developing the commercial relations further as trade between Japan and the UAE has shown an upward trend with Japan becoming the third largest partner of the UAE as far as the quantity of trade exchange in considered."

The DCCI's director general pointed out that non-oil foreign trade between the two countries reached AED 13.4 billion, 66 per cent of which involve the trade between Dubai and Japan. He added that there are more than 100 Japanese companies operating in Dubai and a good number of new companies that are trying to shift their regional base to Dubai due to the facilities offered by the city.

The Deputy Governor of Osaka, along with Sultan and Al Mutaiwee, inaugurated the forum's associated exhibition in which a large number of pavilions and booths, representing government and private establishments and corporations in the UAE, participated.