Ajman Free Zone Authority has established its official presence in Pakistan by opening an office in Karachi. The new office is in line with Ajman Free Zone's global expansion plan after the opening of offices in India, Dubai and Manchester. Emirates Express will work as the sole authorised representative of Ajman Free Zone (AFZA) in Pakistan and it will assist businessmen with all the legal formalities required to set up and register a new company with total ease in Ajman Free Zone, UAE.
During a ceremony at a local hotel on Tuesday, Mahmoud Khalil Al Hashimi, General Manager, Ajman Free Zone Authority, informed that there were over 14000 registered companies in the Zone and a large number of Pakistani companies were also operating in Ajman. Hashimi said that trade between Pakistan and UAE stood at $9 billion.
He said that the opening of the new Office was logical and expected phase within a strategic framework set by Ajman Free Zone for geographical expansion in international markets. He further pointed out that free zone orientations about global expansion were well planned to ensure their integration with local operations and customers' needs and came in line with the overall vision, set by the senior leadership in this aspect.
He explained that opening new office in Pakistan was an important stage to reinforce and push forward investment operations in the Free Zone, as the office would be the main contact centre with companies and aspiring entities to take advantage of investment opportunities in Ajman. "This will support development and opening up local market in addition to creating new business partnerships," he added.
He further said that in the recent years, Ajman had reinforced its location on the world economy map and had become a global investment destination; the city had gained from its geographical location, climate, unique culture and natural components to enhance the economic sector and attract investments and businessmen, thus becoming an important investment force in the country. "We in our part have to keep pace with that evolution with new expansion plans to maintain growth and ensure continuity of success. Therefore, we come up with the idea of expansion through representative offices inside and outside the country to guarantee ease and flexible access to Ajman Free Zone with least efforts. Our continuous efforts culminated in an opening of Karachi representative office to be added to previous opening of offices in Dubai, Mumbai and Manchester," he added.
Pakistani companies are already taking full advantage of business potential in Middle East region as a large number of companies are registered with Ajman Free Zone, UAE. To further accelerate mutual cooperation on business front and to attract Pakistani investments, Ajman Free Zone has now established its footprint in Pakistan with partnership of Emirate Express.
He said that this establishment would facilitate building lucrative means of economic cooperation between Pakistan and the UAE, said GM AFZA. Ajman Free Zone is offering all the necessary facilities to ensure sure that the Pakistani investors will be furnished with the best services and products. These products and services are aimed at enabling investments from all sectors, trade, services, IT, manufacturing.
"Pakistan is an important market for us and the investment from the country has been growing over the last few years. Ajman serves as an opportunistic destination for Pakistani businesses due to close proximity to Pakistan, a strong connectivity with ample flights between the two countries. We are confident of offering investors from Pakistan all assistance required in setting up and ensuring thriving operations as their success reflects our," he added.
He informed that Ajman Free Zone had achieved success in attracting many institutions, companies and factories to the Free Zone, where production, assembly, processing, storage, packaging, distribution and trading were of the most important activities. Projects within AFZ include storage and distribution of petroleum products, assembly of electrical devices and computers, construction materials, textiles, foodstuff, trading and many other projects.
Ajman Free Zone, with its strategic location at the entrance to Gulf area, is considered fertile soil for investment, as it has the required qualifications to provide a variety of services to both Eastern and Western markets. Further Ajman is considered easy entrance to two International Airports and four sea ports; Ajman port serves over 1000 ships yearly, and it is considered an important maritime centre as it contains 12 docks. Moreover, Ajman is preparing to open Ajman International Airport through which Ajman aspires to reach international standards in the field of aviation services.