KEZAD seeks to draw Korean investments to Abu Dhabi

Eman Al Hashmi, senior manager at KEZAD Group, speaks during the UAE Business Forum with KEZAD at FKI Tower in central Seoul, Wednesday. The Korea Times jointly hosted the forum with the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Seoul and KEZAD Group under the Global Business Club 2024 initiative. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Ko Dong-hwan

• Published Jul 3, 2024 4:28 PM KST
• Updated Jul 4, 2024 10:43 AM KST

Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi (KEZAD) Group is seeking to attract investments from Korea's state-run and private companies to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the Middle Eastern state is keen on drawing Korean interest using its biggest operator of local ports, trade infrastructure and integrated business ecosystems, according to the multinational group and the UAE Embassy in Seoul, Wednesday.

The two countries have begun a new chapter in their business partnership following Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to Abu Dhabi in January last year. The UAE Business Forum with KEZAD, held under the Global Business Club 2024 initiative jointly hosted by The Korea Times and the UAE Embassy, extended from the bilateral summit, inviting representatives of Korean government agencies and state-run and private companies to share how business-friendly Abu Dhabi has become for foreign investors.

KEZAD’s presence is big in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which accounts for 87 percent of the UAE's land area. The group said that with its 12 economic zones over sites totaling 550 square kilometers of area throughout the Abu Dhabi region, Korean investors can successfully launch sustainable business ventures.

“We run the largest economic zones in the UAE and the Middle East,” said Eman Al Hashmi, senior manager at KEZAD Group. “Being in KEZAD means you have the privilege of global connectivity and access to the global market. Over 2,000 global clients of KEZAD have sent their employees to our economic zones in Abu Dhabi’s Musaffah and Al Ain to use warehouses built over 540,000 square meters of site and over 40 staff accommodation facilities that can house over 450,000 people.”

KEZAD’s strength lies partly in having global connections via critical transport hubs in the UAE, including Khalifa Port. Located between the cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the port connects to over 1,000 ports worldwide. Its average general cargo capacity per year is 25 million tons, and it has terminals dedicated to cars, liquids and gas, as well as refrigerated cargo and silos.

“COSCO, MSC and CMA-CGM which are three of the top five global shipping lines, have dedicated terminals at Khalifa Port,” Hashmi said.

Also supporting air transportation and its new railway freight expected to launch later this year under Etihad Rail, KEZAD has five international airports and eight international ports in close proximity. Over 3.5 billion people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia are within fast reach of the group.

KEZAD said that having a business in the UAE means having business shortcuts to other countries that have signed pacts with the UAE. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) and comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) have laid out bridges between the UAE and nearly 30 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including Korea. President Yoon signed a CEPA with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in May when the UAE president paid a state visit to Seoul.

The trade pacts include exempting custom duties and taxes for goods, services, government procurement, intellectual property, administration and dispute settlement.

“We offer 100 percent foreign ownership and zero percent custom duty to our foreign investors so they can perform businesses in the UAE without unnecessary financial concerns,” Hashmi said.

Specialized clusters

KEZAD supports a wide range of industries and has categorized them into 10 key sectors, including metals, automotives, plastic and polymers, food and agricultural technology and oil and gas. The group provides investors’ entities in the UAE with cost-competitive rates, business-friendly environments and solutions for unforeseen troubles.

For the logistics and retail sector, KEZAD has signed partnerships with Amazon and Noon (an online shopping platform in the UAE) to develop Abu Dhabi as a global e-commerce hub. As to the life science sector, the group has established The Hope Consortium to provide a complete supply chain for global vaccine sourcing and transport. For the oil and gas sector, KEZAD offers an extensive range of connectivity from offshore rigs to ports, highways and railways to make Abu Dhabi Emirate’s 96 percent share of the UAE’s entire oil and gas reserves accessible to investors.

“KEZAD is home of a wide range of different industrial clusters,” Hashmi said. “Our robust statistical figures prove the vibrant business ecosystems we provide to those industrial sectors.”

Lee Yoon-suk, KEZAD's representative to the Korea market, said during the forum that starting a business in the UAE requires understanding of the country’s culture, respecting the people and coming up with localized products or services. He said that many Korean investors who tried to conduct business there failed because they failed to understand the place.

“The most important step in the five stages of business venture in the Middle East is developing a localized model for what you want to sell,” Lee said. “Some of the Korean cosmetic products that became popular in the UAE were not made by popular large-size companies in Korea. They were rather made by unknown companies here that had successfully transitioned their ideas into localized products.”