Dubai Chambers has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world’s largest business organisation with a network of 45 million companies across more than 170 countries. The partnership aims to enhance cooperation to support global business communities, with a focus on digitalising trade and improving access to financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
As part of the agreement, Dubai Chambers’ Chamber Benchmarking Tool will be developed to support the ICC and its member chambers worldwide, expanding positive impact on the business community and increasing the added value global chambers bring to the sectors they serve. This will be achieved through the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and capacity-building for global chambers by leveraging the benchmarking tool.
The partnership also aims to foster collaboration to support global trade and SMEs, as well as enhancing joint efforts in areas such as dispute resolution; sustainability and climate action; the digital economy; and multilateral cooperation. In addition, the agreement seeks to promote trade digitalisation in line with the ICC’s Digital Standards Initiative.
The agreement underscores Dubai’s strategic role as a leading hub for global trade connecting international markets and supply chains. It also builds on Dubai Chambers’ significant contributions in recent years to the ICC’s efforts to enhance chamber capacities worldwide, including organising the 12th World Chambers Congress in Dubai in 2021 and developing the ‘Chamber Model Innovation (CMI)’ framework to accelerate innovation within global chambers. The agreement establishes a foundation for future projects led by Dubai Chambers in collaboration with the ICC.
H.E. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, commented: “Our partnership with the ICC reflects our shared vision to empower businesses in the MENA region through innovation, digitalisation, and improved access to finance. We look forward to working together to drive sustainable economic growth and unlock new opportunities that will benefit the global business community.”
John W.H. Denton AO, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, added: “This agreement aims to build on our longstanding, successful relationship with Dubai Chambers to amplify and drive our pioneering work in key areas of work, from trade digitalisation to chamber empowerment.”
Dubai Chambers remains committed to supporting the expansion plans of companies in the emirate into global markets, attracting foreign investments and international businesses to Dubai, and reinforcing the emirate’s position as a global hub for business and investment. The organisation supports the objectives of the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), which seeks to double the size of the emirate’s economy over the coming decade and position Dubai among the world’s top three cities.