The Dubai Airport Freezone-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Middle East, the highly diversified Japanese conglomerate, has secured regional contracts worth Dh552 billion ($150.3 billion).

Koji Okamoto, general manager of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) office at the Dubai Airport Freezone, has suggested that Japanese companies need to establish permanent presence in the region and boost the number of their resident engineers in order to take full advantage of the potential offered by the region.

MHI was established at DAFZ in 2006. “In February 2007 teams from Mitsubish transport and procurement joined MHI office in the Free Zone, and in November of that year additional staff  from the power system headquarters joined the team,” stated Okamoto.

“Operating from the Freezone location is very convenient. It offers a one stop shop window for all of our requirements.”

Okamoto said the main activity of the MHI regional office is to gather information on the Middle East, back up projects, establish sales agents, service ventures and to network with our clients and potential clients in the Middle East.

“Apart from increasing our business in the region, we also ensure that we  contribute to the Middle East society with our advanced knowledge of various technologies. Our stated corporate philosophy is to create a better and happier life for all. For example, we manufacture environmentally friendly products.”

“The presence of big international companies such as Mitsubishi not only adds to the prestige of Dubai as a strategic business hub in the Gulf, the Middle East and Africa region but also adds credibility to Dubai Airport Freezone as a supplier of world class quality support and Freezone services,” added Mohammed Bin Suwailem, director of sales of the Dubai Airport Free Zone.

MHI is involved in shipbuilding, power systems, desalination machinery, manufacturing of machinery, aerospace engineering and transport systems.

MHI’s major products in the UAE include the Dubai Metro Project, Red and Green Line, and the airport people mover (APM). In Oman, the company is involved in building the Sohar fertilizer plant and in Saudi Arabia; MHI is building integrated water and power production plants in three locations. In Qatar’s Ras Laffan, MHI is undertaking a power system production project.

MHI is the leader of a consortium of four Japanese companies and a Turkish corporation that planned and implemented the two-phase Dubai Metro project.

Members of the Dubai Metro 5-company consortium are MHI, Japanese Obayashi, Kajima Corporations and Yapi Merkesi of Turkey.-TradeArabia News Service