To highlight the first-of-its-kind business climate survey in the region
The Dubai Economic Council (DEC) is planning to organize a two-day policy Conference entitled "Business Environment and the Future of Development in Dubai" that will take place on 23-24 November 2011 at "The Address Downtown" hotel. The Conference will highlight the main findings of the comprehensive investment climate research project, based on the Dubai Enterprise Level Survey 2010 (DELS-2010).
HE Hani Al Hamli, DEC Secretary General stated that the conference would create an opportunity to bring together the private and the public sector with a view of active policy debate, knowledge transparency on productivity and with regards to the prospects and challenges facing Dubai's current and future sustainable development leading to sustained growth and structural transformation.
Al Hamli said that the survey and the study provide sound and scientific empirical evidence on Dubai's investment climate and economic performance at the enterprise level. He also revealed that the said project is a partnership effort with the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD), which jointly issued the report with DEC. Other two entities who have also collaborated in this project are Economic Zones World (EZW), which facilitated the survey on the free zone areas as well as contributed to the chapter on free zone establishments, and Dubai Statistics Center, which has been responsible for the process of re-designing, conducting and documenting the survey as well as generating, cross-checking and storing the data and making it accessible to the research team. The entire report was written by experts from DEC and CGD, with contribution from EZW and was coordinated by a senior staff from DEC.
ELS project based on best practices worldwide
The origins of the DELS-2010 are to be found in the World Bank that, in association with a variety of Think Tanks, has encouraged and promoted the worldwide use of such surveys among governments in some 120 countries thus promoting scientifically based research and understanding on how firms and key policy makers should make optimal decisions regarding competitive productivity outcomes, optimal employment policies, development of comparative advantage among exporting firms and sustainable physical and human infrastructure development in relation to pursued levels of economic growth.
Al Hamli also pointed out that the knowledge provided by the DELS-2010 is instrumental to key decision makers in the private sector and policy makers at government level. Moreover, in conducting the study, the DEC has placed Dubai among a good company of those economies that invest in information, knowledge and transparency and, hopefully, successfully marshal them to enhance private-public sector partnership for development and sustained growth.
Notably, the conference will be attended by the representatives of federal and local departments in the UAE, representatives of business sector in Dubai, local and international academics, global financial institutions, and regional and international development organizations.
Al Hamli: "enhanced business climate is a cornerstone of the sustainable economic growth"
The DEC Secretary General stated that success hinges on strong business and investment climate that leads to an increase in productivity in the private sector, creates employment opportunities for its workforce and increases the fiscal gains for public investment; ultimately these should all contribute towards higher levels of welfare for all in the population.
"In turn the right investment climate is a product of a plethora of institutional and policy factors, such as infrastructure enhancement to promote further economic development, optimal trade conditions faced by export leaders in the economy, the role played by regulations that are required to set up business in the economy, the effectiveness of institutions at easing the daily operation of domestic businesses, the financial conditions that help smooth business operations, the human development of its workforce and its population, and the enhancement of channels that facilitate interaction with business and environments external to the economy" Al Hamli added. Finally, Al Hamli argued that altogether these factors define the business environment and investment climate that should help enterprises operate optimally, thus leading to an efficient allocation of resources, innovation and increased productivity.
The conference addresses Dubai's potentials and future horizons
The conference seeks to address the central question: "what are the Dubai's core competencies in the areas of public policy and regulations, infrastructure, logistics networks, financial institutions and labor force in the direction that would enhance the economic growth of the Emirate?; and, What is the way forward for Dubai in order to strengthen these key investment climate factors that shall allow Dubai to maintain and further consolidate its existing path towards sustained economic growth? The answers to these questions depend on the extent to which private and public decision makers interact to make the right business and policy choices. Knowledge transfer to public policy makers with regards to how firms react to the existing business environment and investment climate can help government agencies shape optimal policies to stimulate such factors. Likewise, transferring knowledge to firms and entrepreneurs with regards to the weakness and strength of their own operational activities, the investment climate in which they operate and their relative standing - with respect to domestic and foreign competitors - should help the private sector make optimal business and productivity choices conditional on government policy. Moreover, the government would be in a position to better plan its longer term development strategy for structural transformation of the economy in the light of how its economy was found to fare relative to other frontier competitors, for which comparable data exists (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong ...etc.)
The conference five key interrelated policy-relevant issues:
What are the key factors, characteristics and determinants of Dubai's investment climate and to what extent does the stage of development of such factors enhance or undermine Dubai's economic development?
What can the different economic zones in Dubai - Dubai Main, Free Zones and Financial Sector - learn from each other to enhance their productive capacity conditional on infrastructure and human capital development?
How should government policies and the legal framework underpinning the economic development of Dubai change to promote higher level of economic growth and human capital development?
How does Dubai's business environment and investment climate compare to that of economies with similar tradable markets and labor market characteristics?
The long term overview for Dubai's industrial setting: learning from the past to understand the role of Dubai's and the UAE as key productive players in the global economy.
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© Press Release 2011
