The UAE Federal Customs Authority has signed a three-year deal with the organisers of the Global Trade Development to be the ‘Lead Strategic Partner’ for the Global Customs and Trade Facilitation Summit.

The summit is one of six held during the mega-trade-event, which will be addressed by leading customs officials and private sector heads of trade facilitation from around the world, said a statement.

The leading trade development event will take place from October 27 to 29 at the Ritz-Carlton Dubai International Financial Centre.

Speaking on the importance of the memorandum of understand (MoU), Khalid Ali Al Bustani, acting director-general, Federal Customs Authority, said: “Signing this agreement to partner with GTDW for the next three years is a very important step to help us strengthen our relationships across borders.

“Reducing barriers to international trade is a top priority for the Federal Customs Authority, and this can only be done through international cooperation. We are supporting this major annual event as a means to facilitate the flow of global trade and also as a means to promote UAE as the leading regional commercial hub linking the East and West”.

“We are particularly proud that UAE has advanced to the third rank globally in terms of the efficiency of customs procedures index and we look forward to sharing best practice with the high-level representation attending the Global Customs Summit. We also look forward to learning from other nations as we continually strive to introduce innovative strategies and services to support and enhance UAE’s economic competitiveness globally.”

Andrew Keable, co-chief executive officer, of KW Group, organisers of GTDW, said: “We are delighted that the UAE Federal Customs Authority is partnering with GTDW. The UAE has established state-of-art customs facilities across all seven Emirates and is firmly established as a major trading hub for the Middle-East, as well as globally - governments around to the world seek to emulate UAE’s success and it is a great boost for our event to partner with The Federal Customs Authority, UAE for the next three years to grow this event as a major annual forum for customs & trade facilitation.”

GTDW 2015 will be a gathering of 1,000 trade leaders from business, industry and government.  

The event will be addressed by 150 speakers whom are some the most influential leaders driving world trade today.

It will feature a series of specialised trade summits that link key sectors across international trade; including business, banking, customs, corporate real estate, infrastructure, specialised economic zones, supply chain logistics and transport. - TradeArabia News Service