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United Arab Emirates significantly improve its competitive position moving up eight places

Switzerland replaces the United States at the top of the rankings of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010
United Arab Emirates' improvement by eight places reflects a more favourable assessment of institutions and an upgrading of technological readiness and innovative capacity
The country's financial markets resist the financial crisis better than many other countries
Download the full Report profiling 133 economies, highlights, rankings and more at http://www.weforum.org/gcr
Watch Jennifer Blanke, Director of the Forum's Global Competitiveness Network,

Dubai: A number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are in the upper half of the rankings, led by Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Tunisia, with particular improvements noted in the Gulf States, which continue their upward trend of recent years. Qatar improves by four places. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) climb to 23rd position, mainly due to a more favourable assessment of institutions, and higher technological readiness and innovative capacity. The financial markets in the UAE show more resilience to the financial crisis than many other countries.

Global Competitiveness Index 2009 and comparisons with 2008
	GCI	GCI	GCI
Country/economy	2009 rank	2009 score	2008 rank	Change 2008-2009
Switzerland	1	5.60	2	ä	1
United States	2	5.59	1	æ	-1
Singapore	3	5.55	5	ä	2
Sweden	4	5.51	4	à	0
Denmark	5	5.46	3	æ	-2
Finland	6	5.43	6	à	0
Germany	7	5.37	7	à	0
Japan	8	5.37	9	ä	1
Canada	9	5.33	10	ä	1
Netherlands	10	5.32	8	æ	-2

"The strong interdependence among the world's economies makes this a truly global economic crisis in every sense. Policy-makers are presently struggling with ways of managing these new economic challenges, while preparing their economies to perform well in a future economic landscape characterized by growing uncertainty. In a difficult global economic environment, it is more important than ever for countries to put into place strong fundamentals underpinning economic growth and development," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA, and co-author of the Report added, "Amid the present crisis, it is critical that policy-makers not lose sight of long-term competitiveness fundamentals amid short-term urgencies. Competitive economies are those that have in place factors driving the productivity enhancements on which their present and future prosperity is built. A competitiveness-supporting economic environment can help national economies to weather business cycle downturns and ensure that the mechanisms enabling solid economic performance going into the future are in place."

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report. This year, over 13,000 business leaders were polled in 133 economies. The survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy's business climate. The Report also includes comprehensive listings of the main strengths and weaknesses of countries, making it possible to identify key priorities for policy reform.

The Global Competitiveness Report's competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and introduced in 2004. The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development. The pillars include Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labour Market Efficiency, Financial Market Sophistication, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication, and Innovation.

The Report contains a detailed profile for each of the 133 economies featured in the study, providing a comprehensive summary of the overall position in the rankings as well as the most prominent competitive advantages and disadvantages of each country/economy based on the analysis used in computing the rankings. Also included is an extensive section of data tables with global rankings for over 110 indicators.

This year's Report also includes a number of discussions of selected countries and regions including the United States, the large emerging BRIC economies and the 12 recent accession members of the European Union, providing an in-depth analysis of the issues affecting national competitiveness.

-Ends-

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests (http://www.weforum.org).

For further information, please contact:
Anne Howard or Sameh Hamtini
Asda'a Burson-Marstellar
Tel: +9714 3344550
Fax: +9714 3344556
Email: a.howard@asdaa.com, s.hamtini@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2009

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