HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum Meets Top Richemont Officials

Dubai, UAE. 1 February, 2014: His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airport Freezone Authority, and Dr. Mohamed Al Zarooni, Director General of Dubai Airport Freezone Authority, have recently received five senior officials from Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group based at DAFZA.

The five officials included Bernard Fornas, Group Co-Chief Executive Officer, Stanislas de Quercize, Cartier CEO, Richard Lepeu, Group Co-Chief Executive Officer, Matthias Schuler, Europe Regional CEO and Christoph Thomet, Richemont Dubai COO.

Welcoming the delegates, Sheikh Ahmed said, “Being one of the most important partners of DAFZA, I would like to assure Richemont of our full support to guarantee that you continue to do business in a conducive and pro-business environment.”

HH Sheikh Ahmed added that the presence of prestigious international brands of the Richemont group in the Freezone sends a positive signal to the business community, particularly on the advantages of opening up a regional office in Dubai.

“The Richemont Group has been a tenant at Dubai Airport Freezone since 2000 and we are honoured to have their senior delegates here in the UAE to meet with us and to discuss future plans within the region,” said Dr. Al Zarooni, Director General of DAFZA. “Our current plans include the construction of new buildings, enhancement of facilities and improvement of our services to cater to the demands of companies at the Freezone for their current operations' needs and for possible future expansion within the Freezone,”.

Mr. Thomet, said: “We find the facilities, services and support provided to the tenants at DAFZA of
a very high standard. “We have a long standing relationship and close collaboration with the Freezone spanning a decade, having been a tenant from the very inception”.

Mr. Thomet further stressed on the long-term potential of doing business in and through Dubai, and underlined the fact that Richemont uses Dubai as its regional business hub to do business throughout the neighbouring GCC region, Levant, Indian subcontinent and Turkey.

Richemont owns several of the world's leading companies in the field of luxury goods, with particular strengths in jewellery, luxury watches and writing instruments. The Group's luxury interests encompass several of the most prestigious names in the luxury industry including Cartier, Chloe, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin,Dunhill, Panerai, A.Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Roger Dubuis, and Van Cleef & Arpels.