Wednesday 26 September 2012

Jebel Ali Port - Dubai, UAE

On the way back from Abu Dhabi we took the opportunity to drop in at the Jebel Ali Port where Al Ghurair Resources has a large amount of grain processing and oil refining investment.

The Port is extremely large and located in an industrial area not far from the city of Dubai.

More words to follow tomorrow in the daily summary.

Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority - Abu Dhabi, UAE

Some photos of the visit to Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority. Abu Dhabi is a 2 hr bus ride from Dubai on a 4 lane (each way) highway with a maximum 140km hr speed limit in parts. Our bus couldn't handle that and we sat in the slow lane the whole way.

Key discussion topics were around food security and how we could work together to contribute to strategic reserves of grain as a food security initiative.

More words to follow tomorrow.

We also had an impromptu meeting with the Abu Dhabi Fund For Development, also on the topic of food security, as they are about to commission a 300,000mt silo grain storage facility at a local port. The cost of development was in the order of USD1.5 billion.

Day five (Tuesday) : daily summary

Author : Mike Wake, Esperance

1. plan, set goals and buy in expertise : Lunch at Bastakiam Nights restaurant with Pankaj Savara from the WA Trade Office. Pankaj explained how he handles 62 countries in his Middle East and Africa portfolio. Example, Yemen is a conservative country, compared to the UAE who set 5year plans and made it all happen.

2. Confirmed mechanism and bring in the best management in the world (oil = money no limit). Visited IFFCO Emirates Grain Products, spoke with production manager Mr Mayloob Ahmed about their gravity feed process which saves energy, they are on a small area of land, at Port, with a staff of 28, versus Oman Flour Mill with a staff of 180, 5km from Port, with a lot of manual handling.

3. Build relationships with farm base in Australia. Grain straight from farm, expressed desire of CEO Djamal Djouhri of Al Ghurair Resources. When questioned CBH does qualify for this but not sure of the genuine desire to assist farmer, versus access to grain. We need expertise and support.

4. IFFCO MD Sanjeev Bhatia investing in the future preference for grain from the east coast of Australia, as it has better protein and gluten than west coast wheat, so a better baking result.

5. Pankaj Savara, land shrinking in urbanizing India, Pakistan, also by salinity and encroaching pollution in China.

Conclusion for the day, visualize a dynamic future. Stop whinging and start pitching for our strategic advantage by taking control and adding value. You can't do for people what they could and should do for themselves. Australia is a great land of opportunity. Adopt a can do attitude , so that whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must enviably come to pass.

END