UAE Latest Business News: Dubai free zones recorded 22 percent trade growth in the year 2018

Dubai free zones recorded an all-time high growth of total trade volumes by 22 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2018, as per the Dubai Free Zones Council. The authority which manages the emirate’s 24 free-trade sections including Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Media City, Jebel Ali Port zone, and others said that the free zone trade was at the top with $107 billion or AED 394 billion, which made up 41 percent of Dubai’s total trade in this period. China stood first as Dubai’s most important and significant free-trade partner recording a total trade volume of $16bn or AED59bn in this time period, followed by Saudi Arabia recording $9.3 billion or AED34.2 billion and then with India at $9.2 billion or AED 34 billion.

 Dubai Duty Free records $52m sales during discount days

Dubai Duty Free hosts an annual 72-hour sale, which also marked its 35th anniversary this year and raised an astounding AED191 million ($52.33million). The anniversary discount which was applicable from 18 to 20 December presented an extra 25 percent discounts on a huge range of products at the Dubai International and Al Maktoum International airports. An airport retailer shared that the sales figures on 18 December totaled to almost AED42.89 million and AED41.25 million on December 19. However, the final day sales shot up to a great new height to approximately AED106.80 million. The highest selling category was cosmetics with sales figures of about AED46 million, with a close second of AED35.48 million sales of watches and AED34.23 million of perfumes.

Tech firms stand as one of the most searched job postings on LinkedIn in the UAE 

Technology-based job positions figure on top as one of the most popular job searches on LinkedIn in the UAE. There were about 10 jobs, which collectively got about 940,000 views in 2018. A business development manager position at Amazon was at the top, followed by a position of a lead railway engineer at ABB and the job of a front office assistant at the Marriot Hotels Dubai Marina complex. The 4^th position was taken by the receptionist and administrative post at Huawei, followed closely by an account job at White Aluminum Enterprises, a customer service officer at Majid Al Futtaim who is fluent with Arabic, a personal assistant position at Emaar, a role of a project manager at Temenos, business analyst position at Dubai Careers and lastly, an assistant brand manager role at Nestle were some of the most viewed job postings.

DEWA is going to partner with a Dubai startup on getting AI innovative solutions

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority or DEWA have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a startup in Dubai named Whizkey Future labs to design innovative solutions with an aim to change the existing electricity and water utility business models. The partners are going to use Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the blockchain, etc for improving efficiency, productivity, and quality of their service. The MoU was signed when DEWA was participating in the 5th Dubai Future Accelerators program, organized by the Dubai Future Foundation.