Dubai - MENA Herald: Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Ethiopian Representative Office in association with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised an East Africa and Dubai Agribusiness Roundtable meeting to discuss mutual trade and investment opportunities and business synergies between the East African Countries and the emirate. The event, held recently at the InterContinental Hotel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was aimed at identifying how Dubai can play a role in being a global hub for East African companies to reach the Asian markets and the Emirate’s attractiveness as a sound investment destination. The meeting was attended by H.E. Abdul Razak Mohammed Hadi, UAE Ambassador to Kenya, Charles Kahuthu, CEO, East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, H.E. Kiprono Kittony, Chairman, Kenyan National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and leading investors and entrepreneurs from East African companies. Welcoming the participants to the Roundtable and throwing light on the bilateral trade relations, Omar Khan, Director, International Offices, Dubai Chamber, stated, “Dubai is a gateway to the world. Using the city as a modern base, East African companies can tap into opportunities across the Middle East and into Europe and Asia. However, this can only be done by creating strong partnerships, and I hope that by working together we can find mutual benefits for economic growth of our two regions.” Khan also informed that Dubai Chamber has been building bridges between the two business communities of Dubai and Africa and has also been exploring business synergies between Dubai and East African markets which offer vast opportunities in the areas of mining, and oil production and have a population density of up to 400 million people, representing an important consumer base for Chamber members looking for expansion into the African Continent. “This we are doing not only through our branch offices in Ethiopia and Ghana, but annually at our Africa Global Business Forum, which provides a high-level networking platform,” he said. During the meeting, the participants reviewed investment opportunities in several sectors including meat, livestock and flowers from the Kenyan market, especially the role of Dubai in re-exporting of flowers from Kenya, and how Dubai companies can benefit from the competitiveness of these companies. Dubai Chamber’s Representative Office in Ethiopia is one of the two Chamber offices in the African Continent which was opened as part of the organisation’s strategy to stimulate the emirate’s business environment in promising markets of the world while attracting foreign direct investment to the country.
