300 Japanese companies attend Jafza business seminars
The 5-day roadshow of Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), Dubai's flagship free zone entity and the trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region spanning West Asia, the CIS, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent, has successfully positioned the Free Zone as the Halal industry hub in the region.
The Jafza Roadshow covered Japan's three leading business and manufacturing centres viz. Sapporo, Osaka and Tokyo. During its roadshow Jafza conducted 4 business seminars that together attracted more than 300 leading businesses from food, pharmaceutical, electronics, transport and logistics sectors.
Ibrahim Mohamed Aljanahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza and Chief Commercial Officer of Economic Zones World, the parent company of the Free Zone, commenting on the remarkable success of the Jafza Roadshow said:
"The overwhelming response that Jafza's Halal focused roadshow received reflects Japan's sharply growing interest in serving rapidly growing markets for halal products. Japan seeks to reach and serve over 2 billion consumers of halal food and other products in the world including the wider Middle East region which forms the sector's largest market. This is the market Jafza as a trade and logistics hub serves. Jafza provides everything that Japanese businesses require to become a significant force in the halal industry particularly in food, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors."
The Jafza team, led by Ibrahim Aljanahi and comprising Adil Al Zarooni and Khadija Al Bastaki, was joined by senior officials from Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology (ESMA) and Dubai Exports.
The first two business seminars, organised by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), a government-entity that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world, in support with TOKKU Food Association and Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank respectively, were focused on Dubai's Halal Mission and Jafza's position as the Halal Hub for the region. Jafza in its presentations talked about two state-of-the-art Halal Zones being developed - one in Jafza and the other in TechnoPark, its sister company, to serve regional, international, as well as the local markets.
Adil Al Zarooni, SVP Sales, Jafza talking about the Halal Zones said:
"These Halal Zones will be all-inclusive hubs, supported with world-class infrastructure, perfectly suited to attract leading enterprises in the entire gamut of halal industry. Halal Zones will integrate a one-stop-shop system to service each and every need of customers in the halal supply chain, offering ease of doing business.
"Jafza seeks to collaborate and attract organisations, associations, accreditation bodies, R&D, as well as advisory firms to support the entire halal value chain right from R&D, product development to sourcing, production, logistics, sales and marketing."
As a part of its Halal Mission the Free Zone will promote the Halal Standards globally, which are developed and evolved by Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology and Dubai Accreditation Department, to attract enterprises within the Halal industry.
DIEDC in their presentations at the seminars highlighted Dubai's vision to become the global hub for Islamic economy, its Halal industry strategy and Halal industry landscape globally.
ESMA highlighted the Halal certification process for products entering the UAE and UAE regulations to ensure that the value chain of Halal products is fully complying with Sharia requirements in their extensive presentations. ESMA also highlighted the fact that Dubai Halal Certification is fully in compliance with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation - OIC's Halal Standards and are recognized and accepted in all 57 OIC member countries. ESMA started issuing Halal certification since 2014.
The last two business seminars were organised by Mobio (Monodzukuri Business Information) in support with Osaka Prefectural Government and JETRO in support with Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank, respectively. Both the seminars highlighted Jafza's key offerings as the trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region. Jafza presentations at both the events also included information on its Halal initiatives.
The Jafza business seminar in Tokyo was attended by more than 150 leading Japanese businesses from diverse business sectors, spanning food & beverages, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, electronics to automotive sectors and several senior government officials including HE Moez Al Fahim, Charge d'Affaires, UAE Embassy in Japan, who welcomed all guests and attendees at the forum. Ibrahim Al Janahi in his key note address stressed the need for further strengthening trade and commercial ties that Jafza and Japan have been enjoying historically. He talked about huge opportunities in Halal products and other sectors in the rapidly growing Middle East region and invited Japanese businesses to come to Jafza to capitalise on these prospects. He also extended his thanks to the UAE Embassy for their strong support that made the event so remarkably successful.
"Looking at the interest of Japanese businesses we are sure to attract a significant number of new Japanese companies in food, pharmaceutical, healthcare sectors besides other streams including energy, infrastructure, electronics and transportation," said Al Zarooni.
Jafza is currently home to 142 top Japanese companies including Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui, Nippon Steel, Marubeni Itochu Steel and JX Holdings among others. Most of these companies are serving markets in West Asia, the CIS, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent from their respective regional headquarters in the Free Zone.
