UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world

[Al Bhatti]

May 30, 2013

UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world

UAE – the second biggest Arab economy – with $373.9 billion (Dh1.37 trillion) – is also the world’s 29th economy, in terms of its size

The UAE has jumped eight places to 8th in the latest world competitiveness ranking published by Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Centre on Thursday, from 16th position last year.

The country scored 88.439 to be the top Arab country and the fourth ranking in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and ahead of countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom and France – among many other competitive countries.

The country ranked No 1 in Government Efficiency — making the UAE government the most efficient in the world.

“We are pleased with this rise — the UAE is in the top 10 countries of the world, with the very best, and the leading nation regionally,” Abdullah Lootah, Secretary General of Emirates Competitiveness Council, told Gulf News. “If we look at the last two years we see a more impressive rise — UAE’s position has risen by 20 ranks. UAE’s rise in the ranking is recorded as the highest jump of any country recorded in the report.”

The improvement is driven by a number of factors. “UAE’s strong economic performance in the past several years,” Lootah said. “Government efficiency is an important factor in driving UAE’s competitiveness. The performance of the business environment, coupled a strong economic results in greater of on-the-ground confidence among business executives.”

Only Qatar amongst the Arab world, ranked 10th, could come close to the UAE. Qatar’s rank remained unchanged from last year – while Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy – did not feature in the ranking. The only other Arab country featuring in the top 60 is Jordan, which slipped from 49 to 56 this year.

“The UAE is actively strengthening its competitive position and the results are a reflection of this policy. UAE is a world-class business hub,” Dr Giyas Gokkent, Chief Economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News. “Economic indicators have improved and these appeared to have played a role. Crucially, business efficiency indicators have also shown relative improvement.”

UAE – the second biggest Arab economy – with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $373.9 billion (Dh1.37 trillion) – is also ranked 29th in the world in terms of its size. However, with a population of 8.48 million – that translates to a per capita GDP of $46,596 (Dh171,000) – the country ranks 8th in terms of per capita GDP on purchasing power parity basis.

IMD, a top-ranked global business school based in Switzerland, announced its 25th anniversary world competitiveness rankings, in addition to ranking 60 economies for 2013,

This is one of the biggest jump in ranking by a country in recent years – that has seen many European countries losing competitiveness due to financial crisis.

“The improvement in UAE’s competitiveness ranking will further underscore the position of the UAE as an attractive destination for business,” Dr Gokkent says.

Challenges

Despite the UAE’s success, challenges remain, the Swiss business school, IMD, said in the country report.

Maintaining the edge as a global international hub for aviation, tourism and trade and building up research and development and the innovative sectors of the economy have been identified as key challenges. “Outsiders would assume that the only challenge would be is how to maintain this outstanding performance at this level. Being heavily engaged with government entities and the private sector, I personally don’t see it as a challenge, but as an opportunity,” Lootah said.

Focus on industry-academia partnerships and encouraging entrepreneurship as well as strengthening the educational system to ‘ensure labour force is equipped for a knowledge-based economy’ and bringing the national data infrastructure in line with international best practices – also have been underlined by IMD as areas of improvement and challenges for the UAE.

Other economies are also investing to maintain or improve their competitive position, “This is a continuous journey. Key is building and attracting human capital further and providing the soft and hard infrastructure for economic activity to flourish,” Gokkent said. “Economic growth is a function of labour, capital, and technology. Research and innovation are, therefore, important elements for growth. IMD study scores research and development culture in the UAE and workforce skill at similar levels with room for improvement,” he added.

“Competitiveness requires a fine balance so that regulation does not stifle, but at the same time provides a world class platform. The IMD study does point to relative room for improvement on this front. Greater harmonisation in certain areas may also be something to consider,” Gokkent said.

UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world | GulfNews.com

 

[Al Bhatti]

May 30, 2013

Leaders hail UAE’s international recognition

UAE plans major initiatives to boost country’s competitiveness

President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday praised the achievement of UAE government departments in bringing home international recognition for government efficiency.

The UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world while it leaped to 8th position in the global competitiveness ranking by the International Institute of Management Development (IMD) Switzerland.

Shaikh Khalifa said that the UAE is reaping the awards of empowerment by achieving international recognition thanks to its wise vision and policies, government excellence, and the efforts of UAE citizens.

“The UAE has achieved international recognition of its economic, political, and management capabilities, the leisure, comfort and optimism of its citizens,” said Shaikh Khalifa, who extended his congratulations on this achievement to the people of the UAE, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Their Highnesses Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates.

“On this day, we remember with great appreciation the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his brothers, the founding fathers of the UAE. We all feel that the seeds sown by our founding fathers, and cared for by their sons and grandchildren, have helped realise this remarkable achievements,” said Shaikh Khalifa.

“The UAE was ranked first globally in government efficiency, social cohesion and attitudes and values, fifth in employment and sixth in management practices. The UAE also made remarkable progress in 19 different indexes, classifying it as one of the top 10 competitive nations in the world,” Shakih Khalifa said in a statement.

The UAE government is planning a number of development initiatives that will enhance its competitiveness, Shaikh Mohammad announced. “We have a number of major development surprises that we will reveal over the coming two years. It will impress the entire world and takes the UAE to whole new levels,” Shaikh Mohammad said yesterday.

The main drivers of UAE’s improved rankings in global competitiveness include impressive advances in all the major quadrants measured by the report — economic performance, where UAE moved up 7 ranks to become forth (4th) globally, business efficiency which UAE is currently ranked ninth (9th) globally after an impressive ten spots jump from 2012 ranking.

Shaikh Mohammad said, “I am very optimistic about our future, confident in our people, and we will keep the hard work going. Our goal is and will always be the prosperity of the UAE people.”

mGovernment initiative to boost efficiency

Shaikh Mohammad has recently announced the development of m-government – to channelise all government services through mobile phones – a process that has already started. Once implemented, people could access government department services while on the move and boost the government’s efficiency in service delivery as well as enhance competitiveness further.

Abdullah Lootah, Secretary General of Emirates Competitiveness Council, told Gulf News that the UAE’s position has risen by 20 ranks during the last two years. The improvement is driven by a number of factors, including the UAE’s strong economic performance in the past several years.

“Government efficiency is an important factor in driving UAE’s competitiveness. The performance of the business environment, coupled a strong economic results in greater of on-the-ground confidence among business executives,” he said.

The UAE has made great progress on economic diversification, but cannot afford to slacken the pace, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW).

Peter Beynon, Regional Director, ICAEW Middle East, said, ”The UAE has seen great leaps forward in diversification, with financial services, first class infrastructure, and tourism all delivering economic growth that is not directly reliant on oil. However, more investment is needed in ‘human capital’; ensuring the growing population has the skills needed to grow the economy and to attract people to do business here. The private sector must be allowed to flourish in order to make sure that growth is sustainable in the longer term.”

UAE – the second biggest Arab economy – with a gross domestic product of $373.9 billion (Dh1.37 trillion) – is also ranked 29th in the world in terms of its size. However, with a population of 8.48 million – that translates to a per capita GDP of $46,596 (Dh171,000) – the country ranks 8th in terms of per capita GDP on purchasing power parity basis.

“The improvement in UAE’s competitiveness ranking will further underscore the position of the UAE as an attractive destination for business,” Dr Giyas Gokkent, Chief Economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News.

Leaders hail UAE

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

Congrats to you United Arab Emirates!

 

[RangerPK]

Good job, I hope we learn something from UAE.

 

[Clutch]

Well.... Not being a Debbie Downer but...

1. There are hardly any Arabs in UAE
2. The higher productivity should be credited to the large number of South Asians and far East Asians.
3. A large segment of the rest of the Arab world is in turmoil with internal strife, so being the "best" compared with the rest of the Arab world isn't too hard.

 

[ebrahym]

May 30, 2013

UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world

UAE – the second biggest Arab economy – with $373.9 billion (Dh1.37 trillion) – is also the world’s 29th economy, in terms of its size

The UAE has jumped eight places to 8th in the latest world competitiveness ranking published by Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Centre on Thursday, from 16th position last year.

The country scored 88.439 to be the top Arab country and the fourth ranking in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and ahead of countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom and France – among many other competitive countries.

The country ranked No 1 in Government Efficiency — making the UAE government the most efficient in the world.

“We are pleased with this rise — the UAE is in the top 10 countries of the world, with the very best, and the leading nation regionally,” Abdullah Lootah, Secretary General of Emirates Competitiveness Council, told Gulf News. “If we look at the last two years we see a more impressive rise — UAE’s position has risen by 20 ranks. UAE’s rise in the ranking is recorded as the highest jump of any country recorded in the report.”

The improvement is driven by a number of factors. “UAE’s strong economic performance in the past several years,” Lootah said. “Government efficiency is an important factor in driving UAE’s competitiveness. The performance of the business environment, coupled a strong economic results in greater of on-the-ground confidence among business executives.”

Only Qatar amongst the Arab world, ranked 10th, could come close to the UAE. Qatar’s rank remained unchanged from last year – while Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy – did not feature in the ranking. The only other Arab country featuring in the top 60 is Jordan, which slipped from 49 to 56 this year.

“The UAE is actively strengthening its competitive position and the results are a reflection of this policy. UAE is a world-class business hub,” Dr Giyas Gokkent, Chief Economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News. “Economic indicators have improved and these appeared to have played a role. Crucially, business efficiency indicators have also shown relative improvement.”

UAE – the second biggest Arab economy – with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $373.9 billion (Dh1.37 trillion) – is also ranked 29th in the world in terms of its size. However, with a population of 8.48 million – that translates to a per capita GDP of $46,596 (Dh171,000) – the country ranks 8th in terms of per capita GDP on purchasing power parity basis.

IMD, a top-ranked global business school based in Switzerland, announced its 25th anniversary world competitiveness rankings, in addition to ranking 60 economies for 2013,

This is one of the biggest jump in ranking by a country in recent years – that has seen many European countries losing competitiveness due to financial crisis.

“The improvement in UAE’s competitiveness ranking will further underscore the position of the UAE as an attractive destination for business,” Dr Gokkent says.

Challenges

Despite the UAE’s success, challenges remain, the Swiss business school, IMD, said in the country report.

Maintaining the edge as a global international hub for aviation, tourism and trade and building up research and development and the innovative sectors of the economy have been identified as key challenges. “Outsiders would assume that the only challenge would be is how to maintain this outstanding performance at this level. Being heavily engaged with government entities and the private sector, I personally don’t see it as a challenge, but as an opportunity,” Lootah said.

Focus on industry-academia partnerships and encouraging entrepreneurship as well as strengthening the educational system to ‘ensure labour force is equipped for a knowledge-based economy’ and bringing the national data infrastructure in line with international best practices – also have been underlined by IMD as areas of improvement and challenges for the UAE.

Other economies are also investing to maintain or improve their competitive position, “This is a continuous journey. Key is building and attracting human capital further and providing the soft and hard infrastructure for economic activity to flourish,” Gokkent said. “Economic growth is a function of labour, capital, and technology. Research and innovation are, therefore, important elements for growth. IMD study scores research and development culture in the UAE and workforce skill at similar levels with room for improvement,” he added.

“Competitiveness requires a fine balance so that regulation does not stifle, but at the same time provides a world class platform. The IMD study does point to relative room for improvement on this front. Greater harmonisation in certain areas may also be something to consider,” Gokkent said.

UAE becomes the most competitive Arab country in the world | GulfNews.com

chotay ..................... bhai ka visa tyar ho raha ........... special order py

 

[somebozo]

How much of that is due to foreign workforce?

 

[dani958]

its just the oil