Abu Dhabi, 21 Sept. 2011 – The U.S. Commercial Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Defense Trade Mission to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met this week with key American and Emirati government officials and local commercial authorities in Abu Dhabi.
The delegation was hosted by the Offset Program Bureau (OPB), a UAE government agency established in 1992 under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to enforce the country’s offset policy, at the Emirates Palace Hotel.
Last year, a similar visit was made by the U.S. trade mission and was hosted by the OPB and the U.S.-UAE Business Council.
Michael H. Corbin, U.S. Ambassador to the UAE, and a team of senior staff from the U.S. Embassy welcomed the delegation of American defense companies to the UAE and provided an in-depth overview of the U.S.-UAE relationship for the group.
Following the briefings from the U.S. Embassy, representatives from OPB provided the delegation with information about the UAE’s offset policy and clarified the framework of the OPB’s processes relevant to U.S. businesses looking to build a larger presence in the local defense industry, including defense manufacturing. The senior officials underscored the objective of the country’s offset policy to create new value for the UAE economy as it diversifies away from its dependence on oil.
Following OPB’s presentation, the American delegation received briefings from Tawazun, a wholly owned subsidiary of OPB that acts as its investment arm and other companies, including: Burkan, Caracal and Tawazun Precision Industries.
The delegation visited Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Military City for a tour of Tawazun and its subsidiaries’ facilities. After the tour, the delegation went to the Armed Forces Officer’s Club for a lunch and briefings from Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS), Advanced Military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Center (AMMROC), Al Taif Technical Services, and International Golden Group (IGG).
The American trade delegation was in the UAE this week on a 3-day visit to survey opportunities for partnership and business development and to engage local companies in the UAE’s growing commercial defense sector.
The trade mission was supported by the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, and the Trade ‘&’ Commercial Office of the Embassy of the UAE in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy : WAM
