The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) recently headed a seminar to raise awareness about the prospects of e-commerce at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
This is part of efforts to promote e-commerce among Gulf chambers and to achieve unified growth and prosperity for Gulf businesses.
Earlier in the year, Dubai and Makkah Chambers had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) appointing Makkah Chamber as the sole representative for Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group in the kingdom. The benefits include easy access to the knowledge centre, free e-commerce customer service and International Chamber of Commerce services through the e-commerce Mena region club and allotment of certificate of verified membership.
The agreement is aimed at enhancing international trade through e-commerce and opening of new markets for the members of Makkah and other Saudi chambers.
Atiq Juma Nasib, senior vice-president of commercial services at Dubai Chamber, Maher Saleh Jamal and Dr Abdullah bin Shakir Al Ghalib, chairman and secretary-general of the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry respectively, and other business representatives from Saudi Arabia attended the two-day seminar.
Nasib highlighted Dubai's efforts to share knowledge and expertise with regional entities.
"Our collaboration with the leading global Chinese e-portal Alibaba.com has doubled prospects for our business community. We want to share the UAE's success in the area of e-commerce with regional entities, especially the Makkah Chamber which is putting extra efforts in promoting the concept among Saudi chambers and businesses," said Nasib.
Nasib said the UAE is ranked as the largest e-commerce market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).
According to Dubai Chamber statistics based on PayPal data, the market size for e-commerce in the UAE is expected to reach $5.1 billion by the end of 2015, thus acquiring a third of the total expected e-commerce market share of $15 billion in Mena.
