Abu Dhabi issues new COVID-19 guidelines for businesses

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) has issued new guidelines for businesses to ensure workplace health & safety and to support employee needs, in line with preventative measures imposed by Abu Dhabi Emergency and Crisis Committee for the Covid-19 pandemic.

DED stressed the importance of implementing the guidelines in order to prepare for business reopening.

Low-risk individuals are eligible to be in the workplace, but those who can effectively do their jobs remotely should continue to work from home.

A couple of days ago the ADDED, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ADCED), has organised the 3^rd roundtable discussion dedicated to businessmen, investors and developers in the tourism and real estate sectors.

The meeting is part of ADDED’s continuing efforts to implement the directives of the Abu Dhabi Government to enhance the support to the private sector through the economic stimulus package announced earlier by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

The remote roundtable meeting witnessed the presence of  Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of ADDED; Falah Mohammad Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT); Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) Abu Dhabi, and Dagher Al Marar, Acting Director General of ADCED.

The meeting kicked off with a discussion on the state of the real estate sector with the participation of businessmen, investors, real estate developers, as well as owners of national and private sector companies.

The group discussed the various issues they face concerning their economic activities in light of the economic restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had affected real estate businesses.

The participants collectively agreed that ensuring the continuity of executing real estate projects has been one of the most important challenges they currently face, as well as securing the returns and revenues as expected to enable them meet their dues on loans to banks and financial institutions.

The participants also expressed their optimism on the real estate sector’s capability to recover following the government’s consistent support to other economic sectors by providing financial liquidity to the market used for purchasing or leasing, thereby maintaining market demand.

ADDED officials have assured that the meetings have been setup to find solutions that would maintain business continuity and boost activities in non-oil sectors in line with directives of the Abu Dhabi Government, which has announced its continuous support to private sector companies through a range of economic incentives and stimulus packages to keep their business, and continue to take part in Abu Dhabi’s economic growth

The authorities recognized that the real estate sector, like other economic sectors, was directly affected by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic which had impacted the global economy and that the Abu Dhabi Government has been in cooperation with the private sector.

The authorities spare no time to help accelerate the recovery of affected sectors through proactive and immediate measures and finding smart solutions to address the losses caused by the current situation.