Boeing seals partnerships with UAE companies in aviation

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Boeing seals partnerships with UAE companies in aviation

(Xinhua) 08:02, November 19, 2013

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DUBAI, Nov. 18 -- Unites States aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Monday renewed its partnership with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and entered a new partnership with Emirati industry and defense firm Tawazun.

Boeing agreed with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala to expand their joint aerospace manufacturing program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), under which Mubadala will supply composites and machined metals for 2.5 billion U.S. dollars for Boeing jetliners, including the latest Boeing 777X planes announced in April.

With Tawazun Precision Industries, a subsidiary of Tawazun Holding, also located in Abu Dhabi, Boeing will establish a joint production aerospace surface treatment facility in the UAE. The facility will be the first of its kind in the Middle East. Both sides said the investment into the facility would be "substantial, " but they did not disclose the exact amount they would invest.

Boeing, whose shares are listed on the New York stock exchange, sealed the deals on the second day of the ongoing Dubai Airshow 2013, which is running in its 13th edition on Dubai's new airport Maktoum International.

Ray Conner, commercial airplanes president and chief executive at Boeing, said on the expansion of the partnership with Muabdala was supporting its customers "by leveraging the world's talent and resources in ways that build a more capable, competitive supply chain for our products."

Boeing will provide manufacturing and technology expertise to the new facility. Homaid Al Shemmari, executive director of Mubadala Aerospace, Communications Technology & Defense Services, called the agreement "an important platform as we continue to develop our role as a significant supplier to Boeing of composite aerostructures."

The joint Boeing-Tawazun facility will be located in the Tawazun industrial park in Abu Dhabi. Saif Al-Hajeri, the chief executive of Tawazun (Arabic for balancing), said the partnership would open new job opportunities for local Emiratis. "We will work closely together with UAE universities and also co-sponsor the ongoing Abu Dhabi science festival where we promote career opportunities in the civil aviation industry with Tawazun."

The UAE, a major oil supplier, is keen on diversifying its sources of income and has strengthened a number of strategic partnerships with blue chips companies from the United States. On the first day of the Dubai Airshow, Dubai's state-owned carrier Emirates Airline ordered 150 Boeing 777X passenger planes for 76 billion dollars, which marked the biggest single deal in the history of civil aviation.

（Editor：YaoChun、Liang Jun）