DCCI launch "Dubai Trade Point"

Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) yesterday launched the 'Dubai Trade Point" (DTP) as the latest service provided by the Dubai Chamber to its members and the business community aiming to support to the emirate's economic activities and help the commercial enterprises in Dubai in marketing their products and services locally and globally through the internet.

The DTP is an electronic business portal that facilitates international trade through e-commerce and helps the commercial corporations, the small and medium-seized enterprises in particular, to obtain trade and investment opportunities in the international trade market. It is a main source of information for the business sector that provides statistics, database and information about the economies of different countries and their investment opportunities.

The announcement of the TDP was made by the DCCI during the press conference which the Dubai Chamber organized yesterday and attended by Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee, Director General of the DCCI, Mr. Mohammed Hassan Al Khatib, Business Development Manager at the DCCI, Mrs. Shamsah Fareed Zainal, Director of DTP, and a number of heads of departments in the DCCI and the media.

In his inaugural speech of the conference, Al Mutaiwee announced the launch of the DTP and highlighted the great challenges that face the business enterprises all over the world from the marketing point of view, as establishments always seek the best means of marketing its products and services, in addition to finding convenient partners.

"The significance of the DTP lies in its ability to help all subscribers to access the world markets through e-commerce system, as well as giving them the opportunity to use the Global Trade Point Net (GTPNet) that contains numerous business opportunities and providing them with the appropriate information, training and specialized consultancy, in addition to other services related to the international trade," said Al Mutaiwee.

He pointed out that the Dubai Trade Point became a member of the World Trade Point Federation (WTPF) which consists of 140 trade points from over 92 countries worldwide. It is electronically connected to all websites of these points, as well as to the WTPF's web portal. The subscribers would be able to have a link with thousands of establishments that are members in the WTPF worldwide. It helps provide them with unlimited opportunities to exhibit their products, purchase their needs and find the proper partners.

"The DTP is the latest service that the DCCI provided to its members of businessmen and investors aiming to introduce them to the latest trends in the international economies, as well as providing them with necessary information which help improve their businesses and open new channels of communication with their counterparts all over the world to help ensure proper marketing for their products and services and make advantage of the investment opportunities which they could get," Al Mutaiwee added.

He noted that the DTP is the first operational trade point in the UAE and the GCC countries. He underlined the Dacca's encouraging of the small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to develop their professional capabilities and performance and help them look for new trade markets for their products and encourage the selling and purchasing transactions, exports and re-exports, through the DTP which provides them with direct contacts with international companies and trade establishments to take advantage of the investment opportunities available.

"The DTP is the latest privileges that the DCCI offers to its members as it opens for them a gate into the world to help develop their businesses through obtaining some trade and investment opportunities all over the world. The DTP also helps introduce the buyer to the seller and the businessmen to their counterparts in other countries," said Al Mutaiwee.

Mrs. Shamsah F. Zainal, Director of DTP, said that the members registered in the DTP enjoys numerous privileges such as listing the names of their corporations in the international directory of members of the WTPF which is available at the federation's website, in addition to accessing the Electronic Trading Opportunities (ETO) system which allows them to post and receive business opportunities, and the possibility of developing joint ventures with other trade points in the regional trade points forum, as well as the spread of information about the establishment's products and services through the global trade directory system (GTDS).

"The DTP allows its members to become members of the WTPF which is the largest enterprise network worldwide, in addition to other privileges such as registering their establishments in the GTDS which allows them promote their products on the internet, unlimited access to the ETO system through which the establishment could market its products and purchase the products of other establishments with a complete exhibit of information available in the files of these establishments in the Global Trading Directory," she said.

Members of the DTP will have unlimited access to the database of the WTPF to obtain information about the market point through which the member could get statistics about imports, exports, markets, , investments, taxes and other types of information about commercial exhibitions in more than 92 countries, as well as information about customs authority, statistical offices, standardization bodies, packaging institutions, export credit finance directory and others.

"Members of the DTP could also access to the knowledge point through which they could get information about the trade policy of all member countries and other information about the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN/LOCODE geographical, country and currency codes, codes of units of measurements and others," said Mrs. Zainal.

The DTP website contains information about the latest economic developments in Dubai, besides some information about the DCCI, a list of the countries which operate a trade point, and other information about the registration in the trade point through the ETO where the member could insert comprehensive information about his trading establishment and photos of its products and the available investment opportunities. He could also ask for information about the investment opportunities available in establishments in other countries.

"The DTP membership is available only for the DCCI members whose numbers surged to 67000, 54000 out of which are active members. The DCCI is currently negotiating with the WTPF to allow members of the chambers of commerce from other emirates to register in the DTP," she added.

Mrs. Zainal noted that the WTPF holds an annual meeting to discuss its annual report which contains statistical figures about the region in which the largest business transactions occurred, as the WTPF's annual report for 2005 indicated that over 1000 investment and trade opportunities took place through the trade points in these regions.

The establishments, intending to become members of the DTP, should first be members at the DCCI and they will be entitled for 50 % discount during the first year if they register for a period of two years.

Answering the questions of the journalists, Al Mutaiwee pointed out that the DTP provides its members with a chance to have direct link with the companies and establishments working according to the Anglo Saxon system which does not makes it a compulsory for any economic establishment to be member of the chamber of commerce in their countries, whereas the trade institutions working under the Francophonic system, such as the Arab countries, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany, must be members at the chambers of commerce in these countries.

Al Mutaiwee stressed that the DTP is one of the most significant commercial services that the DCCI provides to its members and the business community in Dubai, mainly after the Dubai Chamber has succeeded in implementing its new strategy through its numerous initiatives which it launched and which helped the Dubai Chamber to be the ideal authority that supports the local economy. These initiatives include the Dubai University College, Dubai International Arbitration Center, Dubai Ethics Resource Center, Credit rating Service, 33 business councils, 18 business groups, and 69 commercial offices, in addition to the Dubai Business Women Council.