There are plans to increase the volume of fruits and vegetables exported to Dubai to between $30 million and $40 million by the end of 2018.

Currently, Ghana exports about $22 million worth of fruits and vegetables into the United Arabs Emirate.

The UAE has gradually evolved to become a major trade hub with over 4 billion consumers across the Middle East and Asia. Ghana is positioning itself to benefit from those markets.

Being one of the fastest growing populations in the world with a rising number of tourists, the demand within the food and beverage sectors is increasing tremendously. It is projected that the demand within these sectors will grow by 4 percent annually to $13 billion by 2018. The UAE is also making efforts to increase its collaboration with other countries on food security.

Head of the Dubai Chamber International Office, Ghana, Cyril Darkwa, believes Ghanaian exporters must take advantage of these trends to position themselves to penetrate these markets.

“Currently, Ghana exports several items to Dubai. For fruits and vegetables, the export currently stands $22 million. This is a significant figure but still quite small in the scheme of things. We are hoping to increase that to about $30-40 million next year and we aim to do this by having closer stakeholder consultations with people like the exporters, people who generally export to Dubai”, he told Starrfmonline.com.

He spoke on the sidelines of a round table discussion on Fruits and Vegetables organized by the Ghana chapter of the Dubai Chamber International Office in collaboration with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority.

According to Mr. Darkwa, the chamber which presently has about 210,000 members, is committed to providing the necessary support and resources to companies seeking to trade with the UAE. “We can help them find partners; whatever trade barriers they have, we can help them break those trade barriers. This is the only way, I believe we can achieve that USD 30-40 million target for fruits and vegetables”, he said about plans to increase the volume of fruits and vegetables exported to Dubai.