With 304 registered companies operating in the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria has been ranked 46th trading partner with oil rich Arab country coming after South Africa, Egypt and Ghana. Disclosing this within the week, the President and Chief Executive officer of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Mr. Hamad Buamim, said that the chamber has over 12,000 African companies registered with it and operating in Dubai. According to the breakdown, Egypt has 1,683 companies registered with the chamber. Kenya has 242 and Nigeria has 304 registered companies operating there as well. South Africa has 115 companies registered and operating in Dubai, while Uganda has 30. He said Ghana was ranked 44th on Dubai’s list of trading partners worldwide, Egypt was ranked 23rd with South Africa taking the 30th position. He said Nigeria took the 46th position, Kenya was ranked 49th and Uganda was 112th on Dubai’s list of trading partners worldwide.

The CEO was addressing 12 journalists from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Uganda during their visit to the chamber in Dubai to familiarise themselves with operations there. The journalists, who were invited by the Dubai Chamber, had the opportunity to observe a session of the chamber as well as the chamber’s onestop- shop way of transacting business. The President of the DCCI noted that Dubai’s non-oil trade with Africa grew from United Arab Emirates AED 84.4 billion in 2011 to AED 118 billion in 2014, registering about 40 per cent growth. The Dubai Chamber is one of the few chambers in the world with representative offices in foreign markets, he added. Buamim said the Dubai Chamber had two offices in Africa, namely Ghana and Ethiopia, and was aiming at opening two new chambers by the end of the first quarter of 2016 in Mozambique and Kenya. He said the chamber was also studying the possibility of opening more offices in Uganda and Angola.

The President of the DCCI also disclosed that the chamber’s non-oil trade with Ghana grew from AED 3.0 billion in 2010 to AED 6.0 billion in 2014, registering a 100 per cent growth. The non-oil trade with Ghana for the first quarter of this year stood at AED 1.3 billion, he added. The CEO said Dubai’s nonoil trade with Egypt grew from AED 7.2 billion in 2010 to AED 16.0 billion in 2014, registering a 122 per cent growth, while that for the first quarter of the year with Egypt registered AED 3.7 billion. He added that the non-oil trade with Nigeria grew from AED 2.8 billion in 2010 to AED 5.5 billion in 2014, registering a 96.4 per cent growth, while the trade for the first quarter of this year registered AED 1.5 billion.

With South Africa, he said the non-oil trade grew from AED 5.5 billion in 2010 to AED 9.6 billion in 2014, registering a 74.5 per cent growth, while the trade for the first quarter of the year registered AED 1.8 billion. The trade with Kenya grew from AED 3.1 billion in 2010 to AED 4 billion in 2014, thereby registering a growth of 29 per cent, while that for the first part of this year stood at AED 931 million. The trade with Uganda grew from AED 585 million in 2013 to AED 616 million in 2014, registering a 5.3 growth and registering AED 171 million for the first part of the year.