Dubai: Dubai is well positioned to take advantage of growing trade between Moscow and Africa, DP World vice-chairman Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah told the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Global Business Forum on Wednesday.
“From the way we have seen trade in the past, it is dominated by the east-west [routes], but we have seen a little north-south. North-south is yet to see greater growth,” he told delegates during his keynote address on the North-South Transport Corridor.
“East-west is a saturated economy. Between 2008 and 2015 the global economy has become extremely volatile. It goes up and down. During the same period if you look at the emerging markets it will tell a totally different story that east-west trade.
“We see the future in the emerging markets. That’s where the real challenge is. That’s where the real trade will take place.”
With its role as an air freight and seagoing trade hub, the UAE and Dubai in particular are in an excellent position to take advantage of the growing trade, he said, indicating that Dubai punched above its weight when comparing trade volumes to population level.
DP World’s expansion plans for its container port at Jebel Ali is expected to increase its capacity to 22.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) by 2018. “It’s a huge number, which is not consistent with the population,” he said. “We in Dubai and the UAE don’t believe we are serving 7.5 million people. We are serving 7 billion people. That’s why Dubai and the UAE are well placed to be major players in future trade with the CIS and the north-south trade.”
“If you look at world trade, we have seen a drop in trade in only one year, which is 2009. After 2010 trade as continued to grow,” he added.
