Good relations on all fronts between Malta and Dubai have increased considerably over the past few years but there is still scope for further huge increases.
This point was made at an event hosted by the Middle East Business Council Malta at the Chamber of Commerce building in Valletta on Monday at which the main speaker and guest was the President and CEO of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hamad Buamim.
In 2013, Dubai was ranked 19th in the Global Competitiveness Stakes, and where ease of doing business was concerned, 23rd on a global basis and first in the Arab world.
The bad days of 2008-2009 are long gone and the growth in GDP in 2013 was 4.9 per cent.
Dubai’s strength is in trade, logistics and tourism. Trade accounts for 30 per cent of Dubai’s GDP – estimated at $362 billion – and increased by eight per cent last year, four times the Dubai GDP itself and this year it will grow even larger.
As regards tourism, Dubai plans to host 20 million tourists by 2020, by which time it will have 10,000 more hotel rooms – bringing the total to 85,000, in 611 hotels. By 2017, 135 new hotels should be completed. Even now, with some 11 million tourists each year, average hotel occupancy is around 80 per cent.
Dubai’s international airport is the second busiest in the world, handling 66.4 million passengers a year – a yearly increase of 15 per cent. The amount of cargo handling is in the area of 2.44 million tonnes a year. Sales at the duty-free outlets at the airport amount to some $1.8 billion a year, or $70,000 every day and the new Al Maktoum airport is already in use.
Last year, the banks registered their highest growth in many years, estimated at between 20 and 30 per cent. The Dubai financial market saw an astounding 108 per cent growth, the highest in eight years, the stock market has seen growth of more than 540% in the year to date, and real estate saw growth of 52 per cent in 2013 to $64 billion.
In short, Dubai has a very positive outlook and this is expected to continue in the future. At the centre of six billion Muslim consumers, it now regards itself as the hub of the Muslim and Arab worlds.
Dubai is now looking forward to three great events that will be held over the new few years. The first is the Dubai Expo, to be held in 2020. An expo is the third largest event to be held worldwide after the World Cup and the Olympics. It is estimated that an expo can generate world GDP growth of $23 billion, adding a one to two per cent boost to the Dubai economy between 2016 and 2020. This six-month expo will be the first to be held in the area and is expected to attract 25 million visitors and create 300,000 new jobs.
The second event will be the Africa Global Business Forum, which is expected to focus mostly on the eastern part of Africa to try and build a roadmap for the continent.
The third event will focus on the Dubai Smart City with, a different twist and focus to that given so far. The aim is to turn Dubai into a really smart city, with upgraded connectivity offering the best environment for businesses.
The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which is just 15 years old, represents 160,000 businesses and has 1,300 members. It has received no fewer than 37 business delegations so far this year.
One of these business delegations, as Middle East Business Council Malta chairman Tonio Casapinta pointed out, was from Malta.
There are close relations and also some similarities between Malta and Dubai and this was also experienced during the more recent visit by Malta’s Foreign Minister George Vella. The synergies between the two economies are remarkable and even more is the potential there is for more business and trade. Mr Casapinta referred in particular to the possibilities that Islamic sharia financial services hold for Malta.
The question and answer session at the end of Mr Buamim’s presentation shed more light on this last remark. Europe is rather late in taking up this opportunity but while some European countries are becoming aware of the potential, Malta is a march ahead because it is small and flexible. Malta should be able to attract Islamic finance as long as it extends its relations with the foci of Islamic finance. Malta can also offer a European passport to such finance.
As to the possibilities of more trade between Malta and Dubai, one identified area is that of call centres as well as trade links, considering Malta’s close relations with North Africa – even though Libya is not an easy market at present. Tourism also offers excellent opportunities for both countries. Malta can attract a good stream of tourists, not just from Dubai but from all over the Gulf. It is a win-win situation.
In this case, there is scope for great improvements were Malta to take the small and delicate steps to make its tourism offer compatible to sharia tourists, by addressing such issues as sharia rules on food (halal) making it available to guests. If the Germans can do it, so can Malta.
But the most important and urgent task for Malta is to promote itself more and get itself known far more than it is even now. Malta has been very active in Dubai for the past few years but this does not hold true for the rest of the Gulf, where Malta is unrepresented and mostly unknown.
It is good that, apart from having diplomatic relations with Dubai and Riyadh, Malta has now added Kuwait to its list of foreign embassies but having – for example – one man in Dubai, ditto in Kuwait, etc., does not add up to much. Furthermore, Malta Enterprise has an office in Libya but nothing in Dubai.