Dubai Chamber forum looks into streamlining of procedures to ease trading in the UAE

The event identified the limiting factors of trade in terms of number of procedures, time and financial cost; and ways to eliminate or reduce these limiting factors.

Dubai Chamber Director General HE Eng Hamad Buamim, who inaugurated the forum, informed that the Chamber will provide recommendations to the concerned authorities on ways to improve and reform trade practices in Dubai as he said:

"According to the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index 2008, Singapore, for the second year running, topped the rankings, as the UAE ranked 68th out of 178 countries worldwide which is an incremental improvement from its 69th position in 2007. In the trading across borders index, the UAE ranked 24 out of 178 economies which is four ranks down from 2007, when the country ranked No. 20 out of 178 economies. As Dubai is the commercial hub for the UAE this is a major area of concern for us, and we are interested in learning from the business community's areas of expertise on ways of improving trade in Dubai."

Added Buamim, "At Dubai Chamber our foremost priority is to be the conduit through which the voices and issues of the business community can reach the Government. To this end, our driving objective is to make your voice heard by facilitating meetings with Government officials and ministers."

He further said, "We all know that the UAE is not a typical business environment and, therefore, the sample used in constructing the index in the World Bank study may not accurately reflect the true structure of the economy or the true ease of doing business in the country. Closer inspection to the composition of these sub-indexes reveals that streamlining administrative processes by simplifying procedures, providing one-stop-shops, single-windowed agencies and facilities online would help to improve the UAE's ratings and transparency of business processes.

"Through today's discussion and other Dubai Chamber events to follow, our goal is to help the business community develop an ideal environment for trade. Hosting this significant forum at Dubai Chamber goes in line with its mission to represent and protect the interests of the business community in Dubai, as well as enhancing their knowledge on critical issues like ease of trade. It is indeed a very good opportunity to make use of this forum to exchange views and ideas with a purpose of boosting mutual understanding," said Buamim.

Dubai Chamber officials and the delegates at the forum comprising of traders, Customs and Ports and logistics and transportation company representatives recommended that standardization of procedures at a Federal Level, or even a GCC one, may help to streamline procedures and improve the transparency of business processes which will ultimately make the UAE an easier place to conduct business. They also said that for the UAE to improve its global ranking the country must ensure it reforms at a faster rate than the other reformers.