International SOS An MNC With AED 3.68 (Us1) Billion Annual Turnover Opens First Alarm Centre In Middle East At DAFZ

The Dubai Airport Freezone's (DAFZ) continues to attract international investors with a lot of international companies opening up branch and regional offices despite the economic downturn, said Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni, Director General of Dubai Airport Freezone (DAFZ).

Dr. Zarooni welcomed Mr. Arnaud Vaissie, Chairman and CEO of International SOS during the inauguration of the company's first Alarm Centre in the Middle East in Building 5E at Dubai Airport Freezone.

Speaking to reporters, Dr. Zarooni said: "The economy in Dubai especially in the Freezone, in fact, is strong. We found out in the last two months of last year, the number of companies that we attracted to the Freezone, is more than September and December of the previous year and even more, comparing with some months of year 2008."

"And this is an indication denoting that the Freezone is doing very good. And I don't think the people, when they come to the Freezone; they come just only to stay within the Freezone as they come to the emirate of Dubai and the economy of the Freezone is linked to the economy of the country."

Mr. Vaissie, replying to journalists' questions on the economic crisis and his company's plans for the Middle East region, said "We see real developments in the region. We have developments in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and here (Dubai). So we see tremendous dynamism in the region."

"I think that the economic crisis is real, however it may slow things down a bit marginally but the region is on a growth so I still believe there is potential to take advantage here."

He added that for International SOS, 80 percent of the top 1000 companies in the world "are our clients and we see that their operations in the region are growing very rapidly. So I am quite optimistic about the developments here," Mr. Vaissie remarked.

Mr. Vaissie noted that the Dubai Airport Freezone office of his company will serve as the commercial, logistics and support office.

In an address to gathered officials, customers and employees, Dr. Zarooni said, "We are delighted that International SOS has selected Dubai Airport Freezone as its base of operations in the region. We welcome International SOS as a valuable member of the Freezone family. This will add great value to our portfolio and its impressive list of global partners."

Dr. Zarooni added that the responsibility is "Now on us to prove to the management of International SOS and its customers that the decision to establish operations in Dubai Airport Freezone is the right decision, and we will prove that through providing International SOS our professional services and facilitate their operations."

Mr. Olivier Ryder, Regional General Manager, ME and Africa of International SOS, said his company's location close to the airport is key to their decision to select Dubai Airport Freezone. "Proximity to an airport is very important to our operations. We find DAFZ levels of service to its customers are first class and the administration is our main interface in preparing visas and necessary permits. Dubai is a world class hub. Availability of daily flights to Lagos, Bangladesh, Tripoli and Entebbe is very important to us as we have people travelling to all those places all the time."

Mr. Vaissie added that his company will be boosting investment in the GCC region by 30 per cent and is looking at opening offices in Yemen, Qatar and Abu Dhabi in future. "We are also targeting increased membership and subscriptions."

He added that the growth in the Middle East at 31 per cent reflects the worldwide demand for services. "This fiscal year we have a registered growth of 26 per cent."

Dubai Airport Freezone office of International SOS has 48 staff members with the region staffed by 650 employees. The staff levels in Dubai will eventually increase to 58.

International SOS is a global assistance leader. The first Alarm centre in the Middle East is, based at Dubai's Airport Freezone, offers 24-hour worldwide health, safety and security assistance to the company's clients through the Middle East. It assists clients in any emergency, from losing a wallet through to a serious medical or security situation, International SOS's clients are immediately connected to highly-trained, multi-lingual staff, physicians and security experts who can arrange and deliver the right help to the person in need.

Last year International SOS handled more than 850,000 assistance cases, 459,000 of which were medical including 16,000 emergency evacuations and 391,000 non-medical including 2,100 security cases. More recently it has been involved in a number of high-profile crises.

Together with its partner Control Risks Group, International SOS sent two operations teams, comprising medical, and security and logistics experts to Mumbai in the aftermath of the city's terrorist attacks. From the ground they were able to monitor the situation closely giving 24-hour support to their members including medical care and travel advice.

The teams also helped 36 International SOS member clients to depart Bangkok when more than 100,000 foreign tourists were stranded because of an ongoing blockade of international airports in Thailand by protestors.

International SOS was able to secure a private jet service to fly its members to Kuala Lumpur and offered continuous advice and updates on the situation as well as supporting those who had to stay in the country for essential reasons.

The company's Dubai office was called into action following the terrorist bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad in March last year (2008). It was the first attack which had apparently targeted foreigners since 2002.

Mamoun Mustafa, International SOS's Regional Operations Manager for Assistance Operations in the Middle East and Africa, says that the International SOS office in Dubai was immediately notified of the blast because of its proximity and began to mobilise its teams to be sent to the Pakistani capital.

He says, 'Due to the amount of in-depth regional expertise and partnership relationships that we have established in the region, we were able to quickly secure visas for our teams to enter Pakistan and from there to contact our corporate member clients affected by the bombing. We ensured that the victims received the most optimal medical treatment either in Pakistan or, as was required for four victims, by emergency air ambulance to Europe.

Mustafa believes the opening of the new alarm centre is a strong sign of International SOS's commitment to the Middle East.

Over the past 12 years. Dubai Airport Freezone has grown into one of the most successful economic ventures in the Gulf region. The Freezone is now home to 1,500, multinational companies with flexible operations processes that meet client's demand."

DAFZ boasts of excellent cargo and logistics facilities and online services are proving to be a boon to a diversified clientele such as luxury automobiles, international cosmetics and perfume brands, pharmaceutical companies, jewellery and precious stones, IT and electronics companies and air charter businesses.

Dubai Airport Freezone offers investors the most attractive incentive packages like tax incentives and investment incentives. Companies operating at the Freezone get corporate tax exemptions, import and export tax exemptions which allow our business to grow.

"Our location within the Dubai International Airport with 135 airlines flying to 210 destinations is indeed a boon for investors," Dr. Al Zarooni concluded.