UAE at the forefront of GCC countries committed to implementing Supreme Economic Council's resolutions

UAE's regular participation in this forum marks its commitment to promoting economic integration among countries and is in accordance with the UAE's intent to strengthen financial ties with global financial and economic institutions, aimed at supporting investment and economic development.

A report released today by the Finance and Currency Department of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) confirmed that UAE is at the forefront of member states committed to implementing decisions of the Supreme Economic Council between 2006 and 2008.

UAE has implemented 11 out of 14 resolutions related to economic, financial and trade fields. These include the GCC Common Trademarks Law, the law allowing GCC natural and legal citizens to participate in all economic activities and professions without limitation; adoption of the process organizing GCC nationals' acquisition of real estates in member states for housing and investment purposes; application of full equality of treatment between nationals of the GCC countries to own and trade stocks; establishing companies and allowing GCC nationals to be engaged in reviewing services in governmental departments.

The UAE is fully committed to activating the integration of GCC economies, as it believes in the importance of joint action in achieving goals and interests of the GCC Charter. The country is continuously making efforts to support GCC joint projects, in addition to its expansion and diversification, in a way that serves the economies of all member states.

As per statistics on implementation of resolutions of the Supreme Economic Council concerning GCC Common Market, the UAE occupies first position among member states granting licenses for economic and financial activities to GCC nationals.

The total number of licenses given by the UAE reached 11,083, followed by Kuwait with 2,628 licenses. The value of loans granted to GCC nationals to establish industrial projects in the UAE reached $18.11m. Up to 2007, four commercial GCC banks were allowed to open branches in different Emirates to start operations.

With regard to full equality of treatment in the field of trading and establishment of companies, the number of joint stock companies in the UAE allowed to be traded by GCC nationals reached 61 out of 99 companies listed on UAE financial markets. The total value of these companies touched $23.7876bn or approximately 16 per cent of the total capital allowed to be traded by GCC nationals.

The capital of these companies totaled $149,170m. The number of GCC nationals who are shareholders in these companies and permitted to sell them their shares reached 313,937, giving UAE the first place in terms of the number of GCC nationals dealing with listed companies, followed by Qatar with 289,662 shareholders.

The executive resolutions taken by the UAE so far to activate the GCC resolutions put the state at the forefront of member states working to promote cooperation between the GCC countries in the economic and investment sectors.

These resolutions contribute to implementing the concept of economic citizenship, in addition to expanding it, based on a gradual and measured approach covering broad areas.

UAE played a leading role in adopting the process of organizing GCC nationals acquisition of real estates in Gulf countries. The total number of GCC nationals owning properties in UAE reached 11,799 which is the highest number comparing to other Member States. The Kingdom of Bahrain took the second place with a total number of 10,425 GCC nationals owning real estates properties.

With regard to bilateral trade among member states, the UAE contributed by way of support for passing several laws, regulations and policies that facilitated the movement of goods, services and transportation between GCC countries.

The UAE encouraged the selling of GCC products as it treated these products on the same level as its own. It allowed enterprises and production units to open commercial offices, in addition to allowing import of products without a local agent. This move has an important impact on the growth of exports of the GCC and increase in volume of bilateral trade between member states to $53bn in 2007.

The UAE's share of imported GCC products reached Dhs4,855.38bn (excluding oil), making its share the largest among member states.

The government played an essential role in the standardization of GCC's goods and products. This contributed considerably to the development of productive sectors, services and trade between GCC countries, in addition to securing consumer and environmental protection and public health. This encouraged industries and agricultural products and reduced technical obstacles facing trade, in line with the GCC and GCC Common Market objectives. With these significant efforts, the number of GCC common standards reached about 5,000 common standards in 2008.