Government | Sunday 7 February, 2016 5:18 am |

Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade with Singapore witnessed a stunning hike of 32 per cent by the end of September 2015, said Director of Dubai Customs H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, who revealed that bilateral trade between Dubai and  the Republic of Singapore had jumped up from AED 9.21 billion in the first nine months of 2014 to AED 12.16 billion in the same period last year.

H.E. Ahmed Mahboob made the statement as he held meeting with H.E. Cheong Ming Foong, the Consul General of the Republic of Singapore in Dubai. The Singaporean official was received in the presence of Mr. Faisal Eissa Lutfi, CEO of DC World and Director of External Relations at Dubai Customs. 

The meeting saw an exchange of cordial conversation and discussion of possible ways to further enhance trade trends between the UAE and Singapore for the common interests of both nations.

Earlier last year, Dubai Customs put into effect the GCC-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which provides for the full exemption of Singaporean Customs duties for products of GCC origin and the exemption of pre-set lists of Singaporean products coming into the GCC at pre-determined times.

H.E. Cheong Ming Foong praised Dubai Customs for its role in pushing bilateral trade figures up, and underscored the consulate’s keenness to make regular visits to Dubai Customs, as this is the Consul General’s second visit to the department.   

Dubai’s imports from Singapore were valued at AED 5.42 billion, followed by exports at AED 4.18 billion while re-exports represented a share of AED 2.57 billion, according to Ahmed Mahboob Musabih.

“Singapore is an important gateway for Eastern markets, and we pay great attention to addressing the needs of Singaporean traders and investors, enabling them to have a real added value for their business operations in Dubai,” said Ahmed Mahboob.

The DC World CEO Faisal Lutfi commented, “This meeting is aimed at exploring further cooperation between the Consulate of the Republic of Singapore and DC World. Our goal from such meetings is to put forward means of enhancing Customs coordination, in the light of the GCC-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which came into force last year.”

It is worth noting that Singapore, the UAE and Hong Kong surpassed other nations in international indexes of Customs procedures efficiency, per the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Report.