Abu Dhabi first competitiveness report released

The Competitiveness office of Abu Dhabi, the subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development - has launched the first report for the emirate on competitiveness, "Abu Dhabi Competitiveness Report" as part of its initiatives to strengthen the Emirate's global competitiveness. The report measures the competitiveness of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi, covering its three main regions, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region. This came during the ceremony organized ADDED Monday at Park Hyatt hotel in addressed by Nasser Ahmed Alsowaidi, the Chairman of the Department who gave an opening speech. Mughair Al Khaili, the Director General of Abu Dhabi Education Council also attended the ceremony together with a large number of distinguished undersecretaries and directors of government departments and entities in Abu Dhabi. The first competitiveness report of Abu Dhabi aims to measure the competitiveness of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi using a number of international standards and benchmarking criteria. It highlights the challenges and key success factors from the perspective of the Emirate's competitiveness and provides recommendations to address these challenges and improve the current competitiveness position, by adopting government initiatives and achieving full potential productivity. This report was issued with the support and active participation of a number of strategic partners and stakeholders, including Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development, Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC), the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, Al Ain City Municipality, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, the National Centre for Statistics, the Statistics Center-Abu Dhabi (SCAD) and the Western Region Development Council. Nasser Ahmed Alsowaidi, the Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, said that the enhancement of the competitiveness of Abu Dhabi calls for an in-depth study of the Emirate's current economic performance in view of the determinants and pillars of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. Alsowaidi explained that within the current global and regional scene of successive developments in competitiveness; and in the light of the ambitious goals of Abu Dhabi's leadership to promote the Emirate as a regional hub for business and investment, the emirate had to do peer review and careful diagnosis of the reality and determinants, of the environment competitiveness of the Emirate's economy; guided by the results of the most successful experiences and expertise. He said that the current report was based on a sophisticated model for assessing the competitiveness of the Emirate, compared to the number of successful experiences and expertise selected according to a set of considerations which take into account the aspirations and interests of the Emirate and a range of enabling factors that have clear impact on the competitiveness of the Emirate. H.E also focused on an integrated package of conclusions and recommendations on three determinants of the competitiveness of Abu Dhabi. He added that competitiveness covers all dimensions of the economy, at the micro and macro levels, so that the competitiveness framework described in this report, would help policy makers to identify competitiveness challenges in the Emirate and its regions; and set priorities for remedial intervention and the formulation and implementation of policies and initiatives to address such priorities. Alsowaidi noted that part concerning improvement areas highlighted in this report, contributes to the strengthening of the competitiveness of the emirate through guiding and steering of the main drivers of the economy, with regard to human capital, corporate and economic structure. He stressed the importance of stakeholders and the Emirate unifying their goals and objectives, in order to enable the Competitiveness Office to coordinate initiatives, and play a key role in their implementation to enhance competitiveness. The chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development said that in order to move forward in this project, the competitiveness report will be released and disseminated every two years, to allow following up improvement initiatives which includes the updating of the public and private sector initiatives, in addition to the analysis the results of the challenges and recommendations, through the exchange of additional classified information and analysis about the competitiveness of the emirate. He said that this first report will pave the way for a meaningful debate on the competitiveness of regional capacities of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, hoping that these efforts will lead to setting an advanced competitive environment for the emirate and its regions, within the ability to properly set the basic three elements of competitiveness namely, the inputs and outputs and results to bring about the social and economic variables to enable scientific measuring of the level of regional competitiveness. Mohammed Omar Abdullah, the Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, said that the timing of the release of the report coincides with a series of important government initiatives, in such a way that makes the current version of the report and upcoming releases, an important link between those initiatives and the Emirate's competitiveness agenda; which will contribute significantly to the promotion of development gains achieved by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Undersecretary noted that the attaining of maximum competitiveness levels and improving productivity are among the core objectives and priorities of the Emirate's economic policy, to build a sustainable economy according to the determinants of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 aimed at unleashing the potential of the Emirate's economy and enabling all to participate actively in the development process. Abdulla said that this trend prompted us to closely monitor the development, the opportunities and challenges in the various parts of the Emirate, to enable everyone in Abu Dhabi to achieve maximum economic potential; and realize one of the most important goals of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, to build a regionally and socially balanced economic development that benefits everyone. He noted that one of the most unique features of this report lies in deep addressing of the depots of competitiveness in the three regions of the Emirate, as most similar previous reports were confined to the Abu Dhabi city as the central point of competitiveness of the emirate. The present report is highlights series of pilot initiatives undertaken by government to enhance the contribution of different areas to the development process. The objective of the integrated report is to ensure an accurate understanding of the determinants and engines of competitiveness at the different levels, and to achieve development in parallel and equal opportunities for all. Abdullah stressed the commitment of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development to realize the objectives of the road map developed by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and guided and followed up by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Executive Council. Ms Hala Ameri, In-charge of the Competitiveness Office of Abu Dhabi, gave a presentation on the results of the first competitiveness report which emphasized the unique feature of focusing on the three regions of Abu Dhabi, to understand the overall performance of the emirate, and provide the rationale for a more precise analysis of economic data, in order to enable government departments, businesses and individuals to target investments and tailor appropriate solutions for improvement. Ms Hala said that to measure the performance of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and its major areas, the competitiveness of Emirate of Abu Dhabi.