A trade delegation of business and government leaders from the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) visited North Texas Oct. 2 – Oct. 4 to promote overseas trade and business relationships.
DFW CEO Jeff Fegan welcomed the delegation Tuesday, Oct. 2 with a reception at Cowboys Stadium.
A conference Wednesday, Oct. 3 at the Irving Convention Center provided an opportunity for U.S. and U.A.E government officials and businesses to network with the objective of increasing business ventures between North Texas and the U.A.E.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, and keynote speaker Hisham Al Gurg, CEO of the Private Office of Sheikh Saeed Bin Ahmad Al Maktoum in Dubai, were two of many speakers featured at the conference.
“Fort Worth is honored to be a part of the effort to create new business connections between the United Arab Emirates and Texas,” said Mayor Price. “Programs like this show that we all share a commitment to expanding tourism, trade and business between our regions. Now, it’s up to us to take advantage of this commitment with new global airline connections that support business-to-business opportunities and ultimately jobs in North Texas.”
The trip concluded Thursday, Oct. 4 with visits to North Texas companies and infrastructure facilities. The visits included a lunchtime briefing at DFW Airport hosted by John Terrell, vice president of commercial development.
Exchanges such as these help create economic development by laying the foundation for business ties between two of the world’s best performing economies, specifically the U.A.E. and North Texas.
The U.A.E. is the single largest export market for American goods in the Middle East, with $15.9 billion in exports in 2011, and that number is rising. For the first six months of 2012, exports from the U.S. to the U.A.E totaled approximately $11 billion, a 59 percent increase over the same period one year ago.
In February of this year, Emirates Airline began serving DFW with a daily nonstop flight to Dubai, and that flight is exceeding expectations.
