Identifying priorities key to businesses

Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone, or RAK FTZ — one of the fastest-growing and most cost-effective free trade zones in the UAE — recently organised a special business event for its clients in Dubai. The event showcased a series of presentations from prominent speakers, which shed light on key priorities in the changed business landscape across the region. It was attended by more than 400 clients of the free trade zone, from different industries such as trading, consulting, and industrial. Maryam Al Murshedi Al Shehhi, deputy director-general of RAK FTZ, welcomed the attendees and opened the session. In her welcome note, she highlighted the development and growth of RAK FTZ. “We have 1,935 new companies in the RAK FTZ family this year, and by the end of 2012, we expect this number to increase significantly. We would like to credit this performance to a host of factors — from our transparent, investor-friendly policies to our strategic location,” she said. “We would like to thank our clients for their confidence in our unique business model. This initiative to host a business lunch for our clients is aimed at boosting our interaction and commitment to our clients’ growth journey.” The panel of speakers at the event included Marcus Wallman, partner for commercial advisory at Al Tamimi & Co, and Ammar Haykar, litigation partner at Al Tamimi & Co, who addressed the audience on “Contracting under the UAE law”. This address was followed by Liz Martins, senior economist for Global Banking and Markets at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, whose topic was about “The Middle East and North Africa in a troubled global economy”. The event also encompassed a speech by motivational speaker Carol Talbot, owner of Matrix Training Solutions, which focused on “Leading from the Inside Out”. The networking lunch after the event was attended by Shaikh Faisal bin Saqr Al Qasimi, chairman of RAK FTZ, who spoke with the attendees. Kholoud El Fouly, director of client relations at RAK FTZ, said: “By gathering our clients and bringing together a panel of experts to talk about the matters that add value to their businesses, we hope that it will produce a host of valuable ideas, support their particular needs and gain insights that can add value to their businesses.   The successful event is one of the many activities planned by RAK FTZ for its clients. El Fouly also revealed that RAK FTZ clients could expect more events in 2013. From : Khalij