Gulf Cooperation Council countries offer SMEs business opportunities
By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 30 November 2007 2209 hrs

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SINGAPORE : There is much room for Singapore-based companies to find opportunities and partnerships in the booming Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) infrastructure landscape.

This is according to IE Singapore at a seminar to promote investments to the United Arab Emirates and Oman today.

Small and medium enterprises from Singapore looking to break into the markets in the GCC countries have a wealth of opportunities.

While firms are most familiar with the United Arab Emirates, IE Singapore believes they have room to venture further into that region.

Ted Tan, Deputy CEO, IE Singapore, says: "(Planned and committed) investment in the GCC is currently about US$1.5 trillion, out of which the construction sector is about US$1 trillion. UAE alone congregate about US$700 million, so I think that there are huge mega infrastructure projects for companies."

But IE Singapore says the UAE is not just about Dubai.

Abu Dhabi is emerging as a regional economic power in its own right.

It has started committing significant resources to catch up with Dubai, especially in real estate and tourism development.

At last count, about US$200 billion worth of infrastructure development projects are being planned in Abu Dhabi.

Companies like SembCorp Utilities, CapitaLand and Keppel Land have already made inroads there.

IE Singapore says it also sees opportunities in Oman.

Mr Tan says: "The attractiveness for Oman is that the infrastructure projects are small in size so it is more manageable...and fully attractive for many of our SMEs."

Even banks like Standard Chartered are getting in on the action.

It wants to do business with SMEs by being a bridge for their business through its presence in the UAE and Singapore.

Sandeep Bose, SME Banking - Middle East and South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, says: "What it basically does is it is creating an infrastructure. And when we talk about a corridor, it basically the bank being on both the sides - there is a UAE side, there is a Singapore side. With the bank being on both the sides, it saves the clients from having to find new partners. It has the partners and it has the support."

Stanchart says it will also help companies to establish themselves in Dubai by linking them up with its local partners. - CNA/ch