Dubai’s DAFZA, Export Bahrain sign agreement

Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Export Bahrain, to establish frameworks for technical collaboration.

The collaboration aims to support the efforts of both entities in institutional development, facilitating business activities, supporting companies and their growth plans as well as exchanging information and expertise, official news agency WAM reported.

The agreement seeks to encourage companies across the two countries to expand joint trade relations, in addition to enhancing bilateral cooperation in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. It also aims to encourage the exchange of expertise and best practices, and facilitate access to technologies, markets and business networks, a statement said.

#DAFZA is delighted to announce the signing of an MoU agreement with Export Bahrain in the presence of Ms. Amna Lootah from DAFZA, Ms. Safa Abdulkhaliq from Export Bahrain and Mr. Marius Ciavola from @tradeling_com to support their joint efforts in institutional development. pic.twitter.com/490V1TXuvf

— DAFZA (@DAFZAOfficial) November 23, 2021

The two sides will also cooperate to organise activities, workshops, seminars, and conferences to support relations between companies.

Amna Lootah, assistant director-general of DAFZA, said: “This agreement is the cornerstone of strategic cooperation that benefits both sides and their short and long-term goals. It serves as a starting point for active cooperation that strengthens the offers provided by DAFZA and Export Bahrain, particularly during the next stage which will witness recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic sectors.”

Safa Abdulkhaliq, acting chief executive officer of Export Bahrain, added: “The signing of this MoU with DAFZA comes within our strategic plans to continue creating a network of strong relationships with key regional and international partners, to advance SME operations by providing them access to additional facilitation and potential growth opportunities.

“The Memorandum permits SME exporters based in Bahrain to capitalise on the supportive facilities offered by DAFZA, such as its business-friendly environment,  infrastructure, tax exemptions and more, to meet their regional and global exporting aspirations.”

DAFZA also signed an MoU with Mashreq Bank earlier this year to grow services available to small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) setting up in the freezone.

Read: UAE’s Mashreq Bank signs MoU with DAFZA to boost SME growth

Meanwhile, the freezone’s contribution to Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade for the first half of 2021 reached 11 per cent.

Read: DAFZA accounted for 11% of Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade in H1 2021

In August, DAFZA revealed that it had achieved an 8.3 per cent growth in new sales revenues for H1 2021, resulting from a rise of 24 per cent in the leased areas compared to the same period last year.

Read: Dubai’s DAFZA records 8.3% increase in sales revenues for H1 2021x