Hatta

Um, always good on the agenda.

That was Chris Seymour, managing director for the Middle East and Africa at Mace.[upbeat music] Do you fancy trying paddleboarding surrounded by the gorgeous Hatta Mountains? Well, if you do, registration has just opened for Dubai Stand Up Paddle.

It's returning this year on the seventh and eighth November.

And the best thing about it, it's completely free, and there's not many free things in life, is there? And last year, more than 5,000 people took part, and organizers are really hoping for another big turnout as we await the Dubai Fitness Challenge celebrating its 10th edition.

Great to have you on the show.

Um, I love a bit of paddleboarding.

Never tried it under the Hatta Mountains.

What's planned for this year's event?

We are going to look now at what we are seeing in trade coming in to the UAE and one of the main corridors that is allowing it to do so.

It's seven months to the day since the Oman-Dubai Green Trade Corridor, that's the one that goes over Hatta, was officially launched today.

We are joined by Rashid Abaid Al-Sharit, Executive Director for Administration and Finance at Dubai Customs.

Rashid, it's lovely to see you.

In terms of numbers, we were able to move goods worth more than 33 billion dirhams during the first three months.

And that equates to more than 200,000 containers.

And if I look into it specifically on this corridor, Dubai-Oman corridor through Hatta, During the first six months of this year, our trade has increased by 175% as compared to last year.

So this proves that this was really a good step and we were able to make a big difference.

Why?

Uh, so Hatta sent it to us.

[laughs]

Hatta is open now.

Yeah.

So they sent us some binoculars.

But you can go and chill in the desert for a couple of days.

This morning, I was out in Hatta, which is an exclave of Dubai about an hour and a half's drive from here, and it's the mountains.

It's part of the Hajar Mountain range.

You have these steep, rocky mountains where you could go hiking and mountain biking and kayaking, and it's the side of Dubai that is not really well known outside of here.

And for us, we have amazing locations.

We have amazing attractions, offerings, like, for example, Hatta as an example by itself.

I've been hiking in Hatta.

And it's amazing.

So when it was launched, basically Hatta has developed so quickly that it created its own

microeconomic system.

SMEs came out from Hatta, from the locals and the residents in Hatta themselves.

utilizing the resources in Hatta, seeing the different locations in Hatta, for example, the activities, you have the hiking, you have the kayaking, and more importantly, you see the cultural aspect to it.