The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) recently highlighted the outstanding achievements of Dubai Maritime Sector Strategy (DMSS) at the recently concluded 14th Annual Gulf Ship Finance Forum in Dubai. The DMCA’s participation was in line with its efforts to enhance the local maritime environment to attract global industry leaders and catapult Dubai into the ranks of the world’s best maritime capitals.

“The DMCA is at the forefront of boosting the competitiveness of the emirate’s maritime sector according to the directives of the country’s wise leaders to build a modern, secure, and sustainable maritime sector to support the economic development of Dubai and the UAE. It has implemented key policies supporting leading maritime businesses and human capital development, in addition to numerous initiatives supported by advanced maritime infrastructure, modern facilities, and integrated logistics services to attract global investors to Dubai,” said Amer Ali, Executive Director of Dubai Maritime City Authority.

The interactive event organized by Marine Money International at the Emirates Towers Hotel drew stakeholders from the maritime community who took advantage of its international platform to discuss ways to enhance the communication channels among ship owners, experts, decision makers, and leaders in ship finance. The forum also served as an opportunity to tackle employment growth, review the best practices, and come up with solutions to current and future challenges facing the shipping sector and ship finance. Regional and international experts took part in a series of seminars on key strategic topics and issues affecting the ship sector, including an ‘Overview of Dubai Maritime Sector; the ‘Economic Outlook; ‘The Maritime Sector: New Facts and Expectations; the ‘Oil & Energy Outlook, Price Action, and Review of the Alternative Solutions;’ ‘The new reality of the shipping sector;’ and ‘The Role of Innovation in the Maritime Sector’ among others.

During the conference, Fatima Al Wahedi, Senior Manager - Finance, DMCA, shared DMCA’s role in promoting Dubai maritime industry. She said: “The Authority is continuously working to make Dubai a leading international maritime hub especially after it was named one the best maritime capitals in the world in 2017. Dubai is the first Arab city to join the prestigious list. The emirate ranked fifth in the most competitive and attractive maritime clusters in the world according to a report released by Menon Group for Business Economics. Through our various initiatives, we aim to bring about positive change within the local maritime sector and increase its economic contributions in support of the emirate’s development.”

Al Wahedi noted that DMCA’s participation in the forum showed its consistent support for renowned regional and international events that will create a positive impact on Dubai maritime sector future. Al Wahedi also pointed out that the forum was an ideal platform to showcase the opportunities and factors driving growth of the shipping sector financially speaking, which is considered one of the most important components of the global maritime cluster.

The DMCA also highlighted its achievements and initiatives during the forum, including the Dubai Maritime Virtual Cluster (DMVC), The Innovation Quay, and the Sea Dubai initiative. Dubai Maritime City Authority also highlighted Maritime Dubai initiative which comes under the management of the Dubai Maritime Cluster Office (DMCO), that provides an integrated framework for maritime policy development and coordination among local, regional and international maritime organizations, free zones, and ports, to name a few. It aims to promote major maritime activities in Dubai.