On 17 th January, 2019, the Consulate General of India, Dubai hosted a seminar in the
Consulate to raise awareness of Dubai Municipality’s requirements for import of food items
among Indian exporters/importers. The seminar was attended by several major food
importers based in UAE. Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdulmajid, Head of Land Ports Units –
Food Safety Department, Dubai Municipality, addressed the gathering and gave a
presentation.

India is the top exporting country for food items to UAE. Total quantity of food products
imported from India in 2016 stood at 1,793,132,964 kgs in 71,633 shipments comprising of
283,289 items whereas in 2017 these figure stood at 1,632,872,787 kgs in 68,796 shipments
comprising of 267,654 items. However, as with other countries, several Indian
exporters/importers also face the issue of contraventions of some regulations of Dubai
Municipality (not rejection per se). Most of these contraventions are easily avoidable as they
relate to simple requirements like labeling in Arabic or submission appropriate certificates.

The officials of Dubai Municipality informed the importers about the requirements needed to
be fulfilled by the food consignments. The seminar was aimed at sensitizing the importers of
food items from India about these requirements so as to avoid the contraventions. The
importers were also urged to sensitise their Indian suppliers about these requirements. The
Consulate officials also briefed the attendees about the steps taken by them to make the
importers based in India aware about the same.

The seminar helped Indian exporters better understand the regulations and provisions about
the food safety and standards of Dubai Municipality so that they can take constructive steps
to comply with them and minimize the chances of contravention. This will also minimize their
looses and delays and will help India in retaining its position as the leading food exporter to the UAE.