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Thales eyes 5-10pc growth in UAE

“I can’t give you an accurate figure on the volumes of our salesin the UAE as we don’t work out country-wise statistics on the extend of our market presence. But it certainly runs into several hundred million euros,” Patrick Oszczeda, the UAE Corporate Director of Thales, told reporters on Tuesday after the opening ceremony of the Abu Dhabi office of the company.

“But I can tell you the Middle East market as a whole accounts for ten per cent of our total turnover which in last year was about €13 billion,” Patrick said. “Currently, we have about 500 people in the UAE and we propose to increase it by ten per cent to 550 this year, and then to 700 or 800 eventually,” he said.

Thales had its presence in the UAE for the last 30 years and its current programmes in the country include systems and high-tech solutions for defence, satellite, airports ATC, airports security, railways, metro, oil and gas and technology training.

“We want to expand our presence in all these areas. For example, we are looking forward to participating in the union railway project of the UAE as well as in the metro and tram projects envisaged in Abu Dhabi,” he added.

Alain Azouaou, the French Ambassador to the UAE who attended the ceremony, said bilateral relations between France and the UAE “are on a very positive and constructive trend. The bilateral trade between the two countries touched €3.7 billion last year. A lot of new projects have been launched in the recent years in many sectors with great success.”

“I’m delighted to see the new dynamism of the French companies and the growing number of small and medium enterprises as well as business delegations involved with the UAE. There has been a 30 per cent growth in the participation of the French SMEs in the trade fares in the UAE,” the ambassador said.

ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com