Shaikh Mohammad reaffirms commitment to excellence

He underlines the importance accorded to equipping all residents of Dubai, whether Emirati or expatriate, with the knowledge and skills that will make the UAE still greater

27 October 2015

Dubai: A new guide, The Business Year: Dubai 2015, features first-hand accounts of the latest infrastructure initiatives and policy reforms in the emirate as well as the opportunities presented by them to businesses and investors worldwide

The guide is a comprehensive publication on the business and investment landscape brought out under a partnership by the Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED).

In his introduction to the guide, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, wrote “Our aims are many and varied, yet all seek the same level of international excellence. In the realm of economy, we work to establish Dubai as the world’s centre for Islamic economy by 2018. Last year, we created the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) to encourage the realisation of this goal within just three years. Dubai already plays host to a thriving Islamic finance sector, which has been growing at nearly double the pace of the conventional financial sector over the last few years.”

Referring to Dubai’s strategy to emerge into an unrivalled destination for the 21st century and the emirate’s Tourism Vision 2020 to attract 20 million tourists a year, Shaikh Mohammad said there are strong and stable foundations for such growth.

“The UAE is eighth in the world, and first in the Middle East, in the IMF’s global competitive rankings. Coming to Dubai has never been easier — Al Maktoum International Airport, sitting at the heart of Dubai World Central, is fast becoming one of the world’s most premier air hubs, and will be able to handle up to 160 million passengers per year and 12 million tons of cargo annually,” Shaikh Mohammad said.

Shaikh Mohammad also underlined the importance accorded to equipping all residents of Dubai, whether Emirati or expatriate, with the knowledge and skills that will make the UAE still greater.

“Having established a system of universal education, we are now moving to make this system an example of world excellence. It is through education that we as a nation can excel and maintain our position at the forefront of global excellence across all sectors. It is this level of expertise that led us to set up the UAE Space Agency — a pioneering Emirati project to launch an unmanned probe to Mars in 2021, an event which will mark the affirmative arrival of the Arab world to the age of space exploration.”

Shaikh Mohammad also stressed that Dubai’s ambition to be the best city in the world rests upon the simple values of hard work, enterprise, and openness. “The people and their stories in these pages of The Business Year: Dubai 2015 are testimony to the fact that Dubai’s story is that of its people, their energy and ideas. Together, we are weaving these stories, ensuring that Dubai’s future will be even more successful to further complement the extraordinary achievements of our past. Yet this marks just the beginning of our journey.”