UKTI offers UAE visit

Cornish businesses looking to develop and grow their business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are invited to sign up for a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) market visit taking place later this year. The final date for applications is Friday 4 September 2009.

UKTI is organising a 5-day visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi from 20 – 27 November 2009 designed to help companies that are new to this potential export market.  The visit should interest anyone wishing to research the market, make new contacts or appoint a representative or partner, but will be of especial interest for companies operating in the ‘Construction’ and ‘Environmental Technologies’ sectors.

Businesses taking part in the visit will have the chance to visit ‘Big 5’ – the Middle East’s premier construction show – and meet and present to Masdar, which is Abu Dhabi’s carbon neutral city project. They will also be given a pre-visit briefing beforehand and have further briefings in market at the British Embassy upon arrival.

There will be networking opportunities and help with identifying partners and arranging business appointments during the visit, and all businesses will have the support of an experienced UKTI adviser throughout.

The UAE is the largest market in the Middle East for the UK, taking over £5.5bn worth of British goods in 2005. It is the UK’s 9th largest export market in the world. Importantly, Dubai is a trading nation, and as the gateway to the Gulf, is the natural starter market in the Middle East. It is for this reason that key trade shows such as Big 5 have their homes in Dubai.

UKTI International Trade Advisor Nick Field, who will lead the Dubai leg, has been a regular visitor to the UAE over recent years and last led successful visits to Dubai in January 2008 and March 2009.  More recently he has taken companies to Abu Dhabi and Qatar too, and he spent some time in Oman scoping-out opportunities for South West businesses.

Nick Field said:

“Even during the recession the UAE is growing – single figures now, rather than the double digit growth experienced of late, but it is still growing in population, the economy, infrastructure and tourism – as the UAE moves away from its reliance on oil. This is similar to how forex works as you can see from this forex trading website top10forex.net

“This visit would be ideal for new exporters or existing exporters looking at the UAE for the first time.  Being part of a Government-sponsored visit can help the profile of a UK business and really open doors that would otherwise have been closed to new market entrants.”

Businesses interested in learning more should contact Lucy Carr on 01275 370894 / lucy.carr@uktisouthwest.org.