SACE, the Italian export credit company has announced a €1 billion ($1.13 billion) credit facility to help the development of Dubai South.
The funding has been offered to the Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC) and can be used for deals with Italian contractors or other goods and service providers from Italy for the development of Dubai South, the 145 sq km aerotropolis.
Dubai South comprises the Al Maktoum International Airport, general aviation hub, residential, golf, commercial, logistics districts, office park and will host Expo Dubai 2020.
The agreement was signed by Khalifa Suhail Al Zaffin, executive president of the DACC, and by Alessandro Castellano, CEO of SACE, in the presence of UAE Economy Minister Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri and Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi.
“The development at Dubai South is massive, we intend to deploy future proof state of the art technologies with the underlying principle of being eco-friendly and sustainable. This requires use of expertise in various fields from the global players of the industry,” said Al Zaffin.
“We have been using on a continued basis Italian technology as well as materials and goods in our developments including Dubai International Airport. We welcome Italian businesses to contribute to this great development with the support of SACE who has been interacting with us together with other Italian agencies to bring a fruitful partnership.
“We thank SACE’s offer to provide the line of credit to support Italian exports. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with the Italian businesses.”
Castellano added: “We are proud to sign an agreement at Expo Milan 2015 that will generate important opportunities for our companies, especially the small and midsize enterprises, in one of the UAE’s largest investment projects.
“Dubai South will involve a variety of sectors in which Made in Italy has extraordinary experience, which we are certain will be employed in the new metropolitan area of Dubai, city where SACE will be opening an office soon.”
In August, Dubai World Central, the emerging city which will ultimately be home to one million people, was rebranded as Dubai South under a new law issued by the emirate’s ruler.
Launched as a Government of Dubai project in 2006, the city is mandated to embody the vision of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum by manifesting the urban and societal themes as outlined in the Dubai Plan 2021.
