Sharjah Free Zones boost trade ties at World Chambers expo

14 June 2015

Themed “Community, identity and vision”, the three-day conference has attracted over 1,600 chambers of commerce from over 108 countries.

Sharjah — A high-level delegation from the Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, or HFZA, and Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, or Saif Zone, joined the ninth World Chambers Congress, which concluded recently at the Lingotto Congress Centre in Torino, Italy.

Saif Zone’s booth attracted a huge number of chamber of commerce directors in addition to Vincenzo Ilotte, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Torino, and Peter Mihok, chair of the ICC World Chamber Federation.

Torino Mayor Piero Fassino also visited the stand and praised Saif Zone’s initiatives and its exceptional growth in the past few years.

“As the only international forum for leaders from the chambers of commerce of different countries, this event is perfect to network, discuss potential business tie-ups with businessmen and get an insight into the best-practice experiences and new areas of innovation in the world of business from the distinguished leaders themselves”, said Saud Al Mazrouei, director of the HFZA and Saif Zone, on the sidelines of the World Chambers Congress. “Our free zones deliver beyond expectations and we were there to showcase our top-notch facilities to the diverse group of investors. We also hope to bolster the Sharjah-Italian trade relations in the process,” added Al Mazrouei, who led the delegation.

Currently, the HFZA has over 6,200 companies — 56 of which are Italian — while Saif Zone has around 6,700 companies of which 86 are Italian.

“The bilateral trade between Italy and the UAE is growing steadily and we hope to see this growth translated into an increase in the number of Italian industrial companies in Saif Zone and the HFZA,” Al Mazrouei said.

Stressing on the Italian-Sharjah relations, he said that the Italian Industry and Commerce Office in the UAE — the IICUAE — which offers consistent assistance to Italian companies, was the first one to be set in the UAE and has been active in Sharjah since 1999.

Themed “Community, identity and vision”, the three-day conference has attracted over 1,600 chambers of commerce from over 108 countries.

The World Chambers Congress addressed the current global trends affecting chambers of commerce and their respective communities — from economic recovery to climate change and other pressing issues.