Dubai has launched a metal and commodities centre for trading gold, diamonds and key commodities with an initial goal of securing half of the global gold trade.

The Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre (DMCC) will be a free zone offering 100 per cent ownership and a 50-year tax holiday to resident companies, DMCC financial advisor Hamid Kazim says.

The centre will offer physical trading facilities, storage, hallmarking, package and delivery facilities, a training centre and a gems lab, as well as "transparency, flexibility and a regulatory environment of international standard," says Kazim.

"DMCC will provide ... strategic location, world-class facilities, a secure, regulated environment," says Kazim, who is managing partner of the Dubai branch of US auditors Andersen.

"The physical location of Dubai is a huge asset in this project as the city is close to many of the key markets.

"We also have the opportunity to build on the established infrastructure that we have in place, particularly in the gold trade.

"Investment is going to be significant."

Kazim did not give details or a timetable for the construction of the proposed centre.

Three gold refineries, fully operated by local firms ARY, Emirates Gold, and Gulf Import and Export, will also be housed on the complex.

Kazim says the ambitious aim was to increase five-fold Dubai's share of the global gold trade of 2,300 tonnes per year from 10 per cent currently to 50 per cent.

Dubai exported up to 660 tonnes of gold in 1998 but only 280 tonnes last year.

Its main markets are India and the other Gulf states.