The United Arab Emirates is ranked first in the Arab region and 12th globally among highly competitive countries in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019.

According to the report, issued by the IMD World Competitiveness Centre, the UAE has advanced five positions from the previous year’s ranking, to be ranked 12th globally and first in the Arab Region.

In this year’s report, the UAE has also progressed to achieve the first rank in the Arab Region in all three main factors of the report, namely the “technology” factor, in which the country achieved the second rank globally, advancing by five ranks from last year, and the 9th globally in “Future Readiness” factor, progressing from the 12th rank last year. The UAE advanced one rank in the “knowledge” factor to be the first in the Arab Region and 35th globally.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director-General, praised the UAE performance in the 2019 report and the achievement of high ranks in this strategic sector.

Al Mansoori said, “The UAE progress in the Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019 is a new global testimony added to the UAE record of achievements and teamwork. I would like to thank our partners in government and private sectors for their efforts and collaboration to enhance the competitiveness of the country and its progress in all global indicators and reports. “ The analysis prepared by the Competitiveness Strategy Team at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority for the factors and sub-factors of this report showed that the UAE achieved outstanding performance in a large number of factors and sub-factors.

Al Mansoori highlighted the key role of federal and local government entities and the private sector in achieving the vision, aspirations and goals set by the wise leadership for the continuous development and improvement of technological infrastructure, as well as supporting training and development initiatives for national capacities in the field of information technology, and encouraging research and development in ICT and advanced science.

He also emphasised on the task of executive teams for competitiveness indicators, which consists of representatives of numerous federal and local government entities, responsible for enhancing the country’s position in economic and social indicators in general, and the digital competitiveness index in particular, as this indicator reflects the progress in digital and electronic transformations represented in artificial intelligence projects and big data to support and develop smart government services and build smart cities.

“Technology today is the cornerstone of the economic and social development strategies and plans adopted by the world’s advanced economies. Innovation is the key for success and cooperation among individuals, federal and local government entities in the development of solutions, and future foresight plays an accelerating role of this innovation and thus improve the country and society,” Al Mansoori concluded.

The World Digital Competitiveness Ranking has been added to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook in 2017. The ranking is based on 50 indicators grouped into nine sub-factors that form three main factors: knowledge, technology and future readiness.

Meanwhile, tourists arrival in Abu Dhabi and Dubai grew 3.4 per cent in H1 2019 on year according to officials figures released by the official tourist departments in both emirates.

With tourists and hotel guests surging to 10.86 million by the end of June, according to the official figures, Abu Dhabi and Dubai continue to be the country’s preferred tourist destinations thanks to their advanced infrastructure and high tourist potential.

In more detail, tourist arrivals in Dubai increased by around 260,000, during the period from January through June 2019, a growth of 2.3 per cent on year, according to the statistics of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, DTCM, Dubai, with hotel foreign guests up 7.9 per cent - around 330,000 guests- as compared to the corresponding period in 2018.

Up to 53.7 per cent of Dubai-bound tourists - around 4.5 million- stayed in the Emirate’s hotels, according to DTCM’s figures.

In Abu Dhabi, foreign hotel foreign guests increased by 4.5 per cent - around 84,000- during the same period, leading to a significant rise in hotel revenues thanks to the momentum created by key exhibitions and activities hosted by the UAE capital during the first half of the year, including the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, IDEX, the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019, FIA World Rallycross Abu Dhabi 2019, and Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.

Meanwhile, UAE reported a surplus of Dhs49.42 billion in consolidated government finances during H1 2019, a growth of 35.4 percent on the comparable period in 2018, figures revealed by the Ministry of Finance indicate.

The growth is driven by a significant rise in revenues from January through June to Dhs249.87 billion, with expenses standing at Dhs200.45 billion.

The largest share of revenues came from ‘other sources’ , amounting to Dhs132.63 billion since the beginning of the year until the end of June against Dhs127.75 billion on the comparable period of 2018.

WAM