Al Mansouri: UAE economy remains robust, growth potential on rise after federal government moves

The minister praised the initiatives undertaken by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to cultivate a more investment-friendly environment, including the scrapping of capital requirements and creation of a national statistics centre. Moves such as these will preserve the nation's standing on the global map, he added.

Al Mansouri also singled out the multiple bilateral agreements initiated over the last few months with market leaders from Europe, North Africa, North America and the Middle East.

These include the launch of the German Emirati Council for Industry and Commerce, meetings of the UAE Algerian and UAE Jordanian joint economic committees, and the conclusion of strategic agreements with the United Kingdom and Canada.

The Ministry of Economy has also furthered relationships with its counterparts in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, the United States and Portugal in areas from energy and Islamic finance to innovation and technology.

Closer to home, the Ministry participated in the 4th GCC Day for consumer protection, held meetings for the consumer protection higher committee and the second meeting for General Census 2010.

It also organized the UAE's 1st SME Forum, launched the unified economic guide and held a number of workshops on origin certificates and supervision.

"The Ministry of Economy will continue to energize our international participation and actively pursue opportunities with joint economic committees as part of its mission to improve the standing of the UAE national economy on the global map," he said.

Dedicated teams from the MoE management will follow up on economic agreements and recent Memorandums of Understanding, he added.

Commenting on the global financial crisis, the Minister said: "The UAE has emerged from the most difficult phase of the crisis with minimal losses. Our key indicators show that economic growth will be back on track by the last quarter of 2009 and start of 2010."

The Minister also referenced additional positive indicators: The increase in UAE consumer confidence over the last quarter, and slowing inflation in the first half of the year, which dropped to 3.4 per cent compared to 11 per cent in 2008.

The creation of the National Statistics Centre is also a major draw for the emirates, Al Mansouri added. "The law contributes to supporting the digital economy of the Emirates and leverages investors' trust through providing integrated statistical indicators reflecting the factual image of the local economy in an accurate and clear way."

In the near future, unifying efforts between all federal and local statistics centres will be implemented to support the Centre's activities, he said.

Al Mansouri also said the future remains very bright for home-grown small and medium-sized enterprises, following the scrapping of capital requirements from the federal government and grassroots support for emerging entrepreneurs.

"This (presidential) decree underlines our wise leadership's vision and strategy aiming at developing the investment environment in the UAE, boosting diversification and ensuring economic prosperity and welfare at all levels of the UAE community," he said.

The Ministry of Economy, he added, is working on a broad plan to develop the SME sector by establishing pro-growth policies and providing incentives to attract innovative entrepreneurs. The Ministry is coordinating with other governmental departments to create a nationwide support system for SMEs, a crucial sector for the UAE's economic composition and growth.

In closing, the UAE Minister of Economy said the Ministry is continually working to ensure market stability and consumer protection. Field visits by Ministry personnel are continuing throughout Ramadan to ensure close monitoring of prices and products.

Educating consumers and raising awareness of fair market practice will help consumers preserve buying power and counter overpricing and monopoly practices, he added.