The UAE plans to boost the contribution of its industrial sector to 20 per cent of GDP by 2021 as it seeks to attract foreign direct investment and implement laws to help industry grow, the economy minister said yesterday.
The industrial sector’s contribution to GDP was 16 per cent last year, Sultan Al Mansouri said at the UAE Third Economy Planning Forum in Umm Al Quwain.
“The ministry is currently closely working with its strategic partners on a slew of laws and regulations that will develop the sector and bolster its attractiveness,” Mr Al Mansouri said.
These laws and regulations include anti-dumping and foreign investment laws.
The development of the industrial sector is part of government plans to lower the contribution of oil to GDP from about 30 per cent to 20 per cent by 2021, the minister said.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have formulated strategies to boost the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP. The capital is planning to double the size of its industrial base as a percentage of its GDP, as it seeks to diversify its economy away from oil, Ali Al Mansoori, the chairman of the Department of Economic Development, said in May.
The government will soon launch an initiative to boost industrial production in the emirate, where industry’s contribution as a percentage of GDP could rise to 10 per cent from 5 per cent in the long run, Mr Al Mansoori said.
Abu Dhabi’s private sector accounts for 27 per cent of its economy, a figure the Government is hoping to boost to at least 40 per cent by 2030.
Meanwhile, Dubai announced in June an industrial strategy aimed at adding an additional Dh160 billion to the emirate’s economy by 2030.
The strategy includes the creation of 27,000 jobs and boosting exports by Dh16bn.
The industrial sector’s contribution to Dubai’s economy reached 14 per cent in 2014.
The UAE and other Arabian Gulf countries want to increase their industrial sector competitiveness to deal with low oil prices, creates jobs and boost economic growth.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The five pillars of Islam
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
RESULTS
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Brraq, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Taamol, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Eqtiraan, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Soft Whisper, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner: Etisalat, Sando Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe