Dubai Economic Council's General Secretariat reviews its achievements in 2008

HE Hani Rashid Al Hamli, DEC's Secretary General, stated that the Council is one initiative launched in 2003 by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, look forward to realize His Highness's vision to place Dubai as a hub of finance and business in the global economy map.

He also stated that the unique membership of DEC, which combines the leaders of business community and representatives of some local departments in the Emirate of Dubai, reflects the public-private partnership concept which is considered to be the best practices worldwide in economic development process.

"The General Secretariat plays a vital role in the Council's activities toward its objectives through monitoring the economic developments in local, regional and global levels, and conducting the cutting-edge researches and studies which mix the theory and practice utilizing researches and advisors in an enhanced business environment."

Al Hamli added.

Al Hamli confirmed that the most outstanding achievements made by the General Secretariat in 2008 are the two initiatives, the Dubai Competitiveness Council (DCC), and Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), in addition to the Legal & Regulatory Affairs office.

Sheikha Mona Al Moalla, the Executive Director of Strategic Planning & Development Office, reviewed the main institutional developments the General Secretariat witnessed last year, especially the organizational structure enhancement and continuous expansion that cope with present stage and future plans.

Al Moalla also stated that the strategic Planning office is regarded as a technical arm for the Secretary General. It deals with outlining the business directions based on objectives. Additionally, the office supervise on progress in operational plans of all arms, and forward the report and work plan to the Secretary General in accordance to certain standards.

Professor Abdulrazak Alfaris, Chief Economists and CEO Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) pointed out that the mission of the institute is to conduct economic policy researches which cover various economic issues and socio-economic aligned with international standards.

Alfaris also highlighted the main four pillars of EPRI. the Macroeconomic issues & forecasting, which deals with forecasting horizons in the long, medium and short terms. The forecasting dimensions cover GDP, inflation, productivity, trade and investment flows, in addition to macroeconomic issues such as sustainability, fiscal and monetary issues and public economics.
The second pillar is Socio-economic & structural issues which deal with talent development and retaining (HR), population and workforce demographics (multiculturalism), education, health, environment, etc.

The third pillar deals with International developments which analyze how international developments affect Dubai's economy and prescriptions for Dubai, e.g. Economic cooperation, talent sourcing, technology transfer, FDI, exports, security, competitiveness, etc. in addition to regional developments.

The last pillar is sector-specific research which analyzes how major developments affect Dubai's strategic sector and prescriptions for the sectors, e.g. changes in domestic and foreign markets and competition, technological dynamics, competition policy, market structures and regulations, financial markets and corporate strategies, Causes and effects of changes in industry structures, etc.

Lubna Qassim, the Executive Director of Legal & Regulatory Affairs Office, pointed out that due to the importance of regulations to Dubai's economy, the mandates of the office include developing the legal policies & regulations, and initiatives forwarded to the Government of Dubai thought conducting legal researches, and analyzing the legal gaps in the present laws in order to provide enhanced legal environment for business community.

Adil Alfalasi, Executive Director of Dubai Competitiveness Council (DCC), the arm initiated by Dubai Economic Council, stressed that the vision of DCC is "to be the most competitive city in the globe" and its mission "to enhance Dubai competitiveness advantage locally, regionally, and internationally". Alfalasi stated that despite the short age of DCC, some important achievements have been realized, especially the survey of global CEOs during World Economic Forum aiming at releasing world competitiveness report-UAE.

DEC's Board meetings

The report showed the DEC's four board meetings conducted last year in which many strategic issues have discussed. The updates of companies' law, review the strategic plans and infrastructure projects of RTA, DEWA and DM, in addition to reviewing the foreign investment law and inflations are some hot issues listed in the DEC's agenda.

Researches & Studies

The report shed lights on the studies conducted by the General Secretariat last year, which include 18 studies covering different strategic issues in economic policies and business-related regulations, and 77 working papers dealt with analytical aspects of these studies. Those include the Labor Market in Dubai which consists of 8 working papers, Real Estate Sector in Dubai which consists of 6 working papers, Value-added Tax (VAT) which consists of 15 working papers, Exchange Rate in the UAE which consists of 3 working papers, Dubai's macroeconomic Model which consists of 7 working papers.

The reports also reviewed some other studies conducted in 2007 and moved to 2008. Those include the GCC Common Currency which consists of 4 working papers, The Subprime Crisis and Its impacts on the UAE & Dubai, and Inflation in the UAE & Dubai.

The legal studies include 9 studies deal with various legal and regulatory issues related to the economic field. Those include Commercial Companies Law, Foreign Investment Regulation, Labor law, Commercial Agencies Law, UAE industrial law No 26 of 2007 concerning regulating the relation between tenants and landlords of property in Dubai, lease agreement suggested by RERA. The said studies involved intensive participations in various events and activities made by some governmental entities.
The Dubai Competitiveness Council has also conducted some working papers, e.g. Developing Clusters, and Study on Emirates Airlines' competitiveness Strategy, etc.

Publications

The DEC's General Secretariat has released 9 working papers in two versions Arabic & English, and two bulletins dealt with various economic issues.

Events

In parallel to the scientific research activity, the report revealed 11 events organized by the DEC's General Secretariat ranging from workshops, seminars to annual conferences in which many prominent experts, decisions makers and academia have took part. The events spot light on the main issues facing the UAE and Dubai economy.

The most important events are the annual conference about VAT in the UAE and its implications in the UAE & GCC, the presentation of the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook April 2008, presented by Dr Mohsin Khan, The foreign investment regulation seminar in the presence of HE Sheikha Lubna Alqassimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, and a huge number of experts from worldwide, The Dubai Macroeconomic Model seminar, in addition to GCC common currency seminar attended by some prominent economists, Robert Mundell, a Nobel prize Laureate, was one of them, the World Bank presentation of economic updates in Mena, and the future of talents in Dubai seminar.

Participations in local & International Events
The DEC's General Secretariat participated in 24 economic events in the UAE and abroad. The most important ones were the Global Competitiveness Network (Japan), Global Competitiveness Conference (Saudi Arabia), the Global Conference for International Economy Association (Turkey), Asian Laws Conference (Honk Kong), The Annual Conference for Economic Research Forum (Egypt), and others.

Additionally, the DEC's General Secretariat engaged in the membership of some national committees, like the Permanent National Committee of Population Structure refers to the Executive Council of Dubai, The Strategic Committee to Revise the Commercial Companies refers to the Ministry of economy, and others.

Local & Global Network

The report showed a cross-section of the networking and strategic partnerships the General Secretariat engaged with many local and international entities. Those include the UAE Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Labor, Department of Economic Development in Dubai (DED), in addition to some regional and global academic and economic research centers, e.g. the World Bank-IFC, World Economic Forum, Economic Research Forum, and media.

Moreover, the General Secretariat collaborated with 21 prominent international experts to support its studies and activities, such as John Glascock in subprime, Ihtisham Ahmed and Jebrail Steen in VAT issues, Ragui Assaad in labor market, Moataz Khorshid and Peter Dixon in macroeconomic model, and others.

Delegations

The General Secretariat arranged 12 official delegations and visits to a number of national and international academic and research centers, e.g. London School of Economics (LSE) and Reading University (UK), Economic Research Austrian Institute "WEVO" (Austria), Ministry of Justice (Hong Kong), Productivity Centre (South Korea), and many local and national departments.

The General Secretariat also receipted 20 official delegates from different regional and international organizations, such as the IMF, the WB, Merrill Lynch, Golden Sachs, EFG-Hermes, Asian Competitiveness Institute, Harvard University, Yale University, American University of Cairo, etc.