Business activity at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry continued to record growth on month-on-month and year-on-year bases as exports and re-exports of its members posted more than 16 per cent growth last month compared to July 2011.

Exports and re-exports, which is valued at Dh24.4 billion, increased by 16.4 per cent year-on-year and 7.6 per cent month-on-month in July, as 5,254 exporters dispatched goods to 170 markets of the world.

In a bid to further support the business community, the Dubai Chamber is planning to open more than 20 overseas representative offices. It is planning to open two offices by the end of 2012.

This was announced late on Monday at a Dubai Chamber-hosted “Business Networking Suhour” as part of its commitment to create new business networking opportunities for its vast network of stakeholders. The networking event was attended by chairman Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair and director-general Hamad Buamim, as well as heads of business councils and groups and a host of VIP guests representing the business community in Dubai. In his welcome address, Al Ghurair informed the gathering about the Dubai Chamber’s commitment to enhance the economic growth of Dubai by supporting business communities through new initiatives of reaching key emerging markets, as well as opening of first overseas representative offices in Azerbaijan and Ethiopia by the year’s end that will soon be followed by 20 similar offices the world over.

Referring to the Dubai Chamber’s data for the first half of 2012, Al Ghurair said that these figures indicate that Dubai is continuing to make good economic progress as 6,780 new members — in comparison to the 5,233 of the first half of 2011 — took the chamber’s total membership to 135,000, registering a 30 per cent growth.

The Dubai Chamber issued 68,000 certificates of origin during July, an 8.7 per cent increase from those issued in July 2011. “All these increased figures point towards an excellent start to the second half of 2012,” Al Ghurair said. The chairman also highlighted the Dubai Chamber’s participation in 32 events around the world — in 24 cities and in 19 countries — including outbound delegations to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Surat in India, and Ethiopia in Africa.

“There is more on the horizon as we are preparing to take further trade missions to key markets like Azerbaijan to discuss the opening of our satellite office and efforts to increase trade and investment ties with Central Asia and the Caucasus,” he added.

“We will also be attending SMM Hamburg, which is one of the most important trade fairs for the world’s maritime industry with the hope that this will bring new developments to Dubai’s maritime industry and increase the number of joint partnerships in this important economic sector.”

Al Ghurair called upon Dubai’s business community to benefit from the investment opportunities offered by the emirate’s leading economic sectors, especially the trade sector, as the emirate’s forecasted economic growth shows a positive trend and clearly indicates the investor’s confidence in the sound business environment of Dubai.