Government officials stressed that competitiveness is a key compass to achieve the top spot and be in the first place. They stated that the development of its components is a key factor to develop its various fields of government and institutional work, including the private sector. They pointed out that competitiveness is a continuous and permanent process that depends on the integrated development and comprehensive updating of various processes and strategic plans in conjunction with benchmarking with competitors to monitor performance, analyze mechanisms of excellence and to eliminate any challenges that may impede the course of action.
They pointed out that the 8th mantra of governance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, presides over an integrated philosophy of its principles.
Arif Obaid Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC), said: "The UAE has been able to compete with the world's largest and most developed economies and topping the highest spot in many indicators in the global competitiveness reports. This is due to the wise vision of the UAE's wise leadership, synergy and integration of the efforts of the federal and local institutions and the private sector and their keenness to develop performance and work, launch plans and implement initiatives, programs and strategies aimed at facilitating procedures and providing services to citizens, residents and the business sector. Hence, improving the global competitiveness performance of the UAE and achieving the UAE Vision 2021 to be one of the best countries in the world."
Al Muhairi added: "The UAE has succeeded in building a competitive leadership model in various sectors and within institutions. It has also shaped the future through developing strategies and plans and key performance indicators which become a guide for the UAE in its quest to reach what it aspires to achieve. They compare the ranking of the UAE with other countries in terms of international indicators."
Ahmed Mahbub Musabah, Director of Dubai Customs, said that the UAE's wise leadership has adopted a competitive strategy to support the national development process to achieve sustainable growth and a prosperous future for future generations. This strategy has created a competitive atmosphere between the government departments and authorities to be occupy new top spots in various sectors, such as innovation, intelligence artificial, ease of doing business, licenses, logistic services, sustainable development as well as customs procedures and services.
He added: "In the 8th commandment of governance, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum shared in his recent book "My Story" stated: Always have competition! Compete with yourself or others and create a competitive working atmosphere. Competition should be a lifestyle in governments. Without it, enthusiasm and courage would disappear."
This golden rule, adopted by the Dubai Customs Department, was praised by the World Customs Organization as a role model in the global customs work. This golden rule stems from the innovations and ideas of the Department in accessing smart services and easy procedures that support business and traders.
Knowledge and Creativity
Hani Al Hamli, Director of Dubai Competitiveness Office, underlined that competitiveness has been reflected in the enlightened thinking of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to have the UAE at the forefront of the world's economies.
"The vision of the UAE 2021 has shown clear trends to enhance the UAE's competitiveness in various fields. The third element entitled "United in Knowledge" focuses on targeting a competitive economy led by Emiratis featured by their knowledge and creativity. For this reason, UAE has the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority as an umbrella for competitiveness at the federal level, as well as the existence of a number of state-level competitiveness offices.
In his turn, Judge Mohammed Mubarak Al Sabousi, President of the Commercial Court at the Dubai Courts, said: "The commandment "Always have competition!" shared by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is a constitution and source of inspiration to be adopted as a rule of life. We will not accept other than the first place. The success of the UAE in general and the Emirate of Dubai in particular is attributed to its desire to turn dreams into reality."
He added: "We must not stop by a certain point or achievement as it is the end of the road. Indeed, the report on the ease of doing business is a global testimony on the UAE's competitiveness and leadership in the judicial sector and its global standing among the most developed and innovative countries in the leadership and team efforts. This is the result achieved by the UAE's wise leadership efforts and the taskforce. These dedicated efforts led to the quantum leap achieved by the Dubai Courts in the indicator of enforcing contracts to be placed first regionally and 9th globally in 2019."
Positive Implications
Majid Al Marri, the Executive Director of Registration and Real Estate Services at the Department of Land and Property, said: "Based on the 8th commandment "Always have competition!" shared by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Land and Property Department in Dubai exerted unprecedented efforts to take the lead globally in all indicators related to registration and real estate regulation. The Department achieved a significant progress in the ranking of the best countries in doing business reflects the impact of these sincere effort which will continues until Dubai is placed first. This has had positive implications as UAE is placed in the 7th spot globally in the annual report of 2018 issued by the World Bank. The UAE outperformed many countries with a long track in the field, such as Norway and Singapore.
Effective Role
Engineer Mohammed Al Ramsi, Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), underlined that the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum "Always have competition!" reflect his vision that put an accent on the importance of both internal and external motivation.
"The individual or organization cannot be the player and the judge at the same time. it is important to get different views on performance. Indeed, the constant positive competition to achieve the first spots will certainly be reflected on the results achieved on the ground. Therefore, the TRA plays an active role in our national journey featured by constant progress in raising the country's global competitiveness in the most important reports and indicators, such as achieving the country's first position in the global mobile broadband index and mobile coverage index," Al Ramsi said.
Interest
Hani Al Hameli pointed out that the Dubai Government has paid great attention to the issue of competitiveness as part of its efforts to further improve performance and increase productivity, thus boosting the Emirate of Dubai's position in the regional and global environments.
A Development Path Towards Achieving a Prosperous Future
The global economy is moving in ever-changing paths due to the ever-changing economic, social and political conditions and factors Therefore, the National Agenda for the UAE Vision 2021 aims to place the country on a development path that aspires to have the UAE as the capital of economy, tourism and trade for more than 2 billion people through a shift to a knowledge-based economy, supporting innovation, research and development and promoting the legislation framework in key sectors. In order to achieve sustainable growth and secure the UAE's prosperity, the wise leadership has adopted a competitive strategy to support the national development process. The UAE targets competitiveness aims to building a nation that benefits from a political environment that offers the human capital and natural resources the potential to improve productivity and enhancing the economy in all sectors which enjoys the qualities of high added value leading to higher levels of prosperity. The UAE has demonstrated its significant ability to pursue the most important international criteria and standards of governance in all sectors starting from enabling the economy to developing and supporting innovation. The UAE is set to celebrate its Golden Jubilee by 2021.
The indicators show the UAE's potentials in the field of competitiveness, its ability to keep pace with the big developed countries and world economies and to listed as one of the top 10 countries. Indeed, the years ahead will open the doors to unprecedented opportunities, rapid growth and great development.
8: "Always Have Competition!"
Compete with yourself or others and create a competitive working atmosphere. Competition should be a lifestyle in governments. Without it, enthusiasm and courage would disappear.