Dubai, UAE— The World Free Zones Organisation’s (World FZO) ninth Annual International Conference & Exhibition (AICE) will begun in Dubai from today.
Held under the theme ‘Global Trade 2.0: Zones, An Ecosystem of Trust Driving Prosperity,’ this year’s two-day event reflects the organisation’s commitment to facilitating the contribution of free zones to economic ecosystems as one of the most reliable ways to promote intra-regional trade and the development of global supply chains at a local, regional and global level.
The event will also highlight current challenges facing global trade, with a focus on the post-COVID-19 period and its impact on global trade.
The agenda includes five panel discussions, featuring the participation of 30 speakers to highlight themes focused on mitigating the impact of economic challenges, designing, building, and sustaining ecosystems of trust, and ways to maintain the vitality of free zones through strategies that ensure their prosperity.
The sessions will also discuss ways to deal with changes in institutional governance and building trust in digitisation and data.
To date, the organisation has more than 1550 members from 140 countries, with a global representation through 12 regional offices around the world and 42 national focal points.
The role of the organisation continues to grow as free zones become more dependent on its contributions, services and network of qualitative strategic partnerships that bind its members.
Free zones have grown in terms of their number, size, importance, and position in the value chain and have expanded their activities to new sectors, including artificial intelligence, financial technology, healthcare, and digital commerce, along with traditional sectors.
This has resulted in impressive growth in employment opportunities and the contribution of free zones to the global economy in a variety of ways.
Since its establishment less than a decade ago, the World FZO has been dedicated to strengthening and expanding its membership base and providing high-quality, diverse, and comprehensive services to its members.
The organization is committed to encouraging constructive dialogue between all parties and is keen to create opportunities for cooperation to realise its strategic goal of achieving growth and prosperity for global economies through the free zone model.
The ninth edition of the event is set to unite representatives from free zones across the globe to discuss crucial topics and priorities related to the sector. More than 600 industry leaders, officials, leading experts, and specialists from free zone, trade and logistics sectors, as well as entrepreneurs, investors, and representatives from related fields from over 70 countries will converge at the event.
Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni, Chairman of the World Free Zones Organisation, said, “The ninth edition of the event represents a new step in the Organisation’s journey as we prepare to mark our first decade of operations. The outcomes gained in this event will support us in developing our strategic objectives for the next five years and consolidating the role of the free zone model as a comprehensive economic concept capable of driving the global economy. This is particularly important at a time when governments are searching for effective economic approaches that keep pace with rapid changes and trends moving towards knowledge-based economic activities and high-tech sectors.”
Dubai, which is the official headquarters of the World FZO, was chosen as the destination for the event due to its magnitude and strategic importance. Additionally, the emirate continues to offer outstanding expertise, capabilities and support to contribute to the development of the free zone model as an important component of an integrated economic ecosystem. The board of directors of the World FZO unanimously chose Dubai as the destination for this year’s edition during its meeting last year in Jamaica.
“Dubai has become a global model for the development and expansion of free zones. The city is home to some of the most successful free zones, which vary in terms of specialisations and sectors. Furthermore, the emirate’s free zones continue to serve as a benchmark of excellence for free zones globally by adopting the latest technology and innovation in their operations, policies and laws,” Al Zarooni further said.
This year’s edition will also welcome ministers and high-level government officials from several countries for a specialised ministerial dialogue session. The session will serve as an ideal platform to uncover ways to drive the objectives of governments to ensure their free zones operate at the highest level and identify solutions to current challenges facing these objectives. Most notably, access to accurate data on the direct and indirect economic contribution of free zones to the economies of countries.