Dubai seeks to host 400 global economic events annually by 2025
Gulf: Dubai seeks to host 400 global economic events annually by 2025, after the emirate won bids for 120 events in 2021 and beyond driven by a robust economic recovery post Covid-19 induced headwinds. These events, which are a combination of conferences, meetings and incentive travel programmes, will feature about 70,000 opinion leaders, scientists, government officials and other experts, Dubai Media Office said on Sunday. “The city’s handling of the pandemic and rapid economic recovery continue to be recognised by the global business community,” Helal Almarri, director general of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, said. “In addition to seeing Dubai become a hub of choice for businesses, associations and talent across a wide range of sectors and professions, this is also resulting in the city standing out as a preferred destination for events of all sizes.” The UAE, a regional tourism and business hub, is banking on its speedy Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the hosting of the Dubai Expo world’s fair in October, open borders and visa reforms to boost the number of visitors to the country. The Emirates has, in recent months, hosted a number of large-scale in-person events, including The Big 5, Gitex, Arab Health and Arabian Travel Market.
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New opportunities in Abu Dhabi for UK businesses
The UK and UAE have a long history of friendship and collaboration, which is helping businesses to scale into new markets. According to the UK Department for International Trade, the UAE is already home to more than 6,000 registered UK companies. The UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi, offers a highly attractive environment for British entrepreneurship, and bilateral partnerships with the UK are creating new opportunities. Abu Dhabi is an ideal prospect for UK businesses, offering a vibrant expatriate community and unmatched ease of doing business, including the international financial centre Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Applying the principles of English Common Law, ADGM has been ranked as financial centre of the year in MENA for four consecutive years since 2016 by Global Investor magazine.
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New Bahrain growth push
The kingdom is moving ahead with a series of ambitious projects as part of Bahrain’s economic recovery plan announced by the government in October last year. It follows directives of His Majesty King Hamad and the announcement by the Cabinet, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, of the launch of a number of initiatives aimed at developing the economy and creating qualitative opportunities for citizens. This plan revolves around five priorities, namely creating promising job opportunities making the citizen the first choice in the labour market, streamlining commercial procedures and increasing their effectiveness to attract investments, implementing major development projects, developing promising sectors aimed at non-oil GDP growth and enhancing endeavours to achieve financial sustainability and economic stability by reaching financial balance by 2024.
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Oman’s positive economic indicators
Positive economic indicators and ratings earned by the Sultanate of Oman are a result of reforms undertaken by the government to encourage diversification and investment. That’s according to Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, the country’s Minister for Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, who welcomed “the strong and decisive leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik and the economic reform measures his government has put in place.” “I am also proud to share that the response from the international community to these transformational policies has been encouraging,” he added. Al Yousef was speaking at a recent meeting of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce in London, where he described at length the steps being taken by Oman to encourage foreign investors to help diversify the economy, as well as the measures adopted to improve the country’s fiscal performance.
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Qatar to experience strong economic recovery in 2022
At a time when the global economy is facing a slowdown, Qatar’s economy is expected to stage a strong recovery. While the global economy is expected to slow down this year, Qatar’s economy is likely to grow strongly this year and next year, according to a recent report by the World Bank. Qatar’s real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to grow by 4.8 percent in 2022 and 4.9 percent in 2023, as per the latest Global Economic Prospects report released by the World Bank. The economy of Qatar is estimated to have grown by 3 percent in 2021. Global growth is expected to decelerate markedly from 5.5 percent in 2021 to 4.1 percent in 2022 and 3.2 percent in 2023. Qatar is expected to outperform regional growth also as the region is likely to grow at 4.4 percent this year. Higher oil and natural gas prices and increased production are expected to benefit energy exporters. Oil exporters are expected to reap the benefits of rising oil production and higher global oil prices, both improving revenue collection, and positive COVID-19 developments, including high vaccination rates in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies.
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Saudi Arabia, Iraq work on data center
Saudi Arabia and Iraq have established a data center for all the opportunities, solutions and decisions that serve the business community between the two countries, Mohammed Al-Khorayef said at Saudi-Iraqi Business Forum in Riyadh.
Al-Khorayef, who heads Saudi-Iraqi Business Council at the Council of Saudi Chambers, said that both countries are working on establishing an annual economic forum to promote bilateral trade and investment. “Small investors are ignorant of the opportunities that exist in both countries, and the possibility of developing relations between the two countries at its best,” Majed Al-Qasabi, Saudi Minister of Commerce said at the forum.