Sanctions on Russia are having no impact outside the west and attempts to halt the flow of business merely redirect it elsewhere, the chair of Dubai’s main trading hub has said.
“Sanctions slow the economy, never stop it,” said Hamad Buamim, chair of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a leading United Arab Emirates free trade zone that says it hosts more than 24,000 businesses. He is also president of Dubai’s chamber of commerce. “Trade continues flowing, it just flows in a different way,” he told the Financial Times in an interview.
Buamim’s comments come as Dubai leverages its geographical position between east and west to cement itself as a node for world commerce at a time when sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, economic protectionism and US-China tensions are reshaping global trade.