Greek Prime Minister praises UAE’s global

maritime feats during visit to DMCA

pavilion at ‘Posidonia 2018’

• Greek and other global maritime leaders show strong interest in Dubai’s quality initiatives and pioneering achievements 

• UAE & Greece explore joint efforts to accelerate growth of international maritime trade 

• DMCA celebrates ‘Zayed Humanitarian Day’ to commemorate legacy and noble values of UAE’s founding father 

• Successful participation reflects confidence of regional and international investors in local maritime community’s competitiveness

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently gained deeper insights into Dubai's pioneering experience in building one of the world’s most competitive, attractive, and comprehensive maritime cluster. The top Greek official praised the world-class achievements and competitive edge of Dubai, making it at par with the world's most important maritime and logistics centers. This took place during his visit to the pavilion of Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) on the opening day of ‘2018 Posidonia Exhibition’ which held recently at the Athens Metropolitan Expo. Senior DMCA officials headed by Executive Director for Operations Ali Al Daboos and Nawfal Al Jourani, Chief Officer of Dubai Maritime Cluster Office, welcomed the visit, saying it reflects the high confidence placed by the international maritime community in Dubai as a leading global maritime center. DMCA’s participation at ‘Posidonia 2018’ is a continuation of its success in representing the UAE in the most important international maritime forums and in seeking ways to enhance maritime cooperation between the UAE and Greece as a major hub on the maritime trade map.

The Emirati officials highlighted before the Greek Prime Minister and local maritime leaders the UAE’s competitive maritime cluster fundamentals, which offer promising investment opportunities for Greek and international shipowners as one of the most competitive and sustainable capitals in the world. In addition, they showcased the UAE’s accomplishments and qualitative initiatives launched to attract international investors and open up new horizons for concerned businesses to benefit from the local economic and investment opportunities. DMCA focused on creating the optimal environment to promote maritime activities based on modern infrastructure and legislations to meet the 21^st century requirements and anticipate future needs.

The Greek Prime Minister also listened to the detailed explanation of Ali Al Daboos and Al- Jourani about ‘Zayed Humanitarian Day’, which marks the death anniversary of the late founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who laid the foundation for making humanitarian work and civilized behavior a well-established culture and norm in the Arab state. The DMCA officials said the ‘Zayed Humanitarian Day’ is a milestone and an important platform to recall the inspiring heritage and noble values ​​of the UAE’s founding father as evidenced by the country’s continuing humanitarian efforts benefiting people from around the world.

International visitors have been flocking to the DMCA’s pavilion to explore the strengths of the local maritime components, particularly shipping, ports, engineering, and maritime support, which are reinforcing Dubai's position as one of the top 2017 maritime capitals in the world. Dubai also made it to the top five in terms of maritime attractiveness and competitiveness and among the top ten in all aspects of the maritime sector. It was also recognized for its advanced and attractive maritime business environments. Visitors expressed interest in DMCA’s achievements and initiatives, particularly in the promotion of innovation and the use of smart technology to drive growth and sustainability in the maritime sector. Some of these initiatives include the Dubai Virtual Cluster, Innovation Quay and Maritime Dubai, which is strategically important as the first plan in Dubai focused on organizing, developing and enhancing the maritime sector in a holistic manner in accordance with the highest standards of excellence, creativity, innovation, human investment and environmental protection, aiming at creating a renewable and secure maritime sector capable of driving sustainable economic development.

Amer Ali, Executive Director of DMCA, said the Authority’s presence in ‘Posidonia’ and other similar international maritime forums open up new horizons to build strong ties between the UAE and Greece, both of which are known for their competitive advantages and prestigious global positions. He praised the role of the strategic ’Posidonia’ in introducing international maritime community leaders to the qualitative achievements, ambitious strategies, and competitive factors that make the UAE and Dubai the destination of Greek and other international ship owners and operators seeking to capitalize on the region’s promising opportunities.

Ali added: “The ‘Posidonia’ exhibition is an ideal opportunity to showcase our successful experience in the advancement of the maritime sector based on innovation, knowledge, and smart transformation. This is part of our bid to establish a vibrant and sustainable economy based on innovation and knowledge in line with the directives of the UAE's wise leadership in pushing towards economic diversification and post-oil economy and supported by ‘Dubai Maritime Sector Strategy (MSS)’ which plays a key role in this endeavor. We are also moving towards meeting the aspirations of Greek and other international investors as we remain committed to modernizingour infrastructure, developing key policies, integrating regulatory frameworks, and enhancing maritime efficiencies. All these will form a solid pillar to catapult Dubai into the ranks of leading global maritime communities such as Singapore, Athens, Hamburg, Oslo, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Copenhagen, and London,"

He concluded: “We reaffirm our absolute commitment to launch quality initiatives that will increase the confidence of regional and international investors in the competitive capabilities of the maritime community and improve the components of the local maritime sectorin line with Dubai Plan 2021. These include offshore services and the operation and maintenance of giant marine vessels.As we aim to become one of the world's leading business and investment centers, we look forward to exploring ways to enhance maritime cooperation between the UAE and Greece to optimize opportunities in both countries."

Stakeholders from Greece and other international maritime countries have shown strong interest in DMCA’s numerous initiatives such as the Dubai Virtual Cluster, which aims to build cooperation among and positive participation of maritime sector leaders in terms of research and development, innovation, and training through its virtual presence mechanism. Offering high-level interactive features, it serves as a promotional platform, a comprehensive information and knowledge portal, and a virtual center for innovation, research, development and training.

Another DMCA-led initiative is Innovation Quay launched to harness creative ideas and technological innovations in the development of maritime sector components. Through the provision of integrated services and exceptional opportunities, the initiative enables developers, innovators, and researchers to transform their proposals into actual projects to help strengthen Dubai's leadership on the global maritime scene.

The ‘Dubai Maritime’ is another DMCA-led initiative provides an integrated framework for the development of maritime policies and the activation of coordination between government agencies and local, regional and international organizations concerned with maritime affairs, free zones, ports, among others.  It promotes activities related to the local maritime sector, which is home to more than 5,500 companies operating 13,000 maritime activities that are fuel the national economy by creating over 76,000 jobs.

The biennial and interactive ‘Posidonia’ exhibition enhances direct communication among decision makers, government dignitaries, experts, ship owners, ship operators, international and legal investors, and representatives of major shipping companies from around the world.