Scotland Eyeing Middle East Business Opportunities

SCOTLAND EXPORTED US$360m WORTH OF GOODS AND SERVICES TO THE UAE IN 2008

Scotland launches Middle East business unit in Dubai, with aim of boosting regional export presence.

Scottish Development International, an initiative of Scotland’s Government, has opened an office in Dubai to foster inward investment and new business tie-ups within the Middle East.

In town for the launch, Anne MacColl, SDI Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations director, explained the key sectors they would focus on were energy – including both traditional and renewable sources – tourism, food and beverage and education.

“The sectors we target are the ones that are most important to the Scottish economy. It’s all about what brings the wealth back into the Scottish economy, and how we do that both by helping Scottish companies internationally and driving inward investment in Scotland,” MacColl said.

One prominent local company that has already invested in Scotland is Jumeirah Group, which signed a deal in 2008 to build the luxury Jumeirah Glasgow Hotel. Another is Nakheel, which brokered the purchase of a historic Scottish golf resort.

The export market between Scotland and the UAE is also very strong and growing. MacColl pointed out that exports from Scotland to the UAE were valued at US$275m in 2007, jumping more than 25 per cent to US$360m in 2008. “We’ve seen a progression in export figures from Scotland to the UAE. As an export destination, the UAE has also moved from 15^th place to 13^th place,” she said.

Heading up the local office in Dubai is Collin Crabbe, SDI Middle East regional manager, who said this division was established primarily to cover the GCC countries. “Within that, our top three markets will be Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. These markets have been identified…as being the high-growth potential markets in the GCC,” he said.

“If we can help Scottish companies that are already established here to grow within the region, then we’ll certainly do that…the whole objective is to try and strengthen their operations. We’ll look to these guys to see if we can gain from their experiences, and see if they can do some mentoring for other companies looking to come out here.”

With 23 global offices, SDI is the international arm of Scottish Enterprise, which is the economic development agency of Scotland. The Dubai office is the newest addition to its EMEA portfolio, joining London, Dusseldorf, Moscow and Paris.