Dubai FTZ a magnet for Chinese business

Chinese firms have a growing presence in Dubai’s DMCC free trade zone. Their number increased by 31 percent last year, making China a central part of the zone’s growth strategy, a senior DMCC executive said in Shanghai on Monday.

“We are particularly pleased with the growing number of Chinese businesses deciding to set up with us in Dubai,” said Feryal Ahmadi, chief operating officer at DMCC. 

Ahmadi said DMCC had made a special effort to engage with the Chinese business community last year, a strategically important growth market, including hosting a series of live seminars on WeChat to explain how to set up a company at DMCC. The company has also opened a Mandarin website.

“We expect to attract even more companies from China in 2019,” Ahmadi said, adding that Belt and Road Initiative had played an important role in its connection with Chinese firms.

Altogether 1,868 new companies joined DMCC in 2018, a 12-percent increase, making it the world’s leading free trade zone for a fourth consecutive year, according to the Financial Times fDi magazine.