Sharjah24 - WAM: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has chaired the UAE Cabinet's meeting at Qasr Al Watan, Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court; Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; and Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said, "Today, I chaired the UAE Cabinet's meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. We discussed the impacts of the recent extreme weather conditions the country experienced over the past few days. The situation was unprecedented in its intensity. We are a country that learns from every experience. The central operations rooms responded to more than 200,000 reports, with the joint effort of over 17,000 members from the security, emergency and interior entities, 15,000 members from the local authorities, and thousands of volunteers to manage the consequences of this exceptional weather event."

Sheikh Mohammed added, "Thanks to the follow-up and support of my President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, life returned to normal quickly. His Highness issued his directives to conduct damages assessments, provide support for families, and immediately assess the status of the infrastructure, emphasising that the safety of citizens and residents is the top priority."

His Highness continued, "In today's Cabinet meeting, we allocated AED2 billion to address the damages suffered by citizens' homes. A ministerial committee has been tasked with overseeing this file, assessing damages, and disbursing compensations in cooperation with other federal and local entities.

"Additionally, in today's Cabinet meeting, we formed a committee to assess the damage caused by floods and rain to infrastructure and propose solutions and measures at the national level. The committee is chaired by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and includes members from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority, and other federal entities, as well as representatives from all seven emirates.

"The exceptional weather event turned out to be a blessing for us. The dams filled up, the valleys flowed with rainwater, and the underground water reserves replenished. We learned significant lessons on managing heavy rains in our cities, identified areas for development, and enhanced our readiness and preparedness, making us better prepared for the future."

His Highness added, "We extend our thanks and gratitude to everyone who has worked and is still working for our country, including emergency and crisis centres, security, military, and civilian entities, federal and local government entities, volunteers, and all citizens and residents who have demonstrated solidarity, cooperation, and profound love for the United Arab Emirates."

His Highness. Sheikh Mohammed stated, "We also reviewed updates on the UAE Tourism Strategy and the major achievements of the sector. The total number of hotel guests reached 28 million in 2023, registering an increase of 11% compared to the previous year, which witnessed the international tourism spending in the UAE reaching AED118 billion, and domestic tourism spending raising to AED47 billion. The tourism sector's contribution to our GDP approached AED180 billion in 2023."

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said, "The Cabinet also reviewed the developments of the UAE's economic agenda, showing that the UAE negotiated and signed comprehensive economic partnership agreements with more than 13 countries. These agreements will result in, by 2031, an annual increase of AED366 billion in the value of the UAE's exports."

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed stated, "As part of today's meeting, we reviewed the updates of the UAE Service Export Development Agenda. Our total service exports in 2023 amounted to AED606 billion, compared to AED570 billion scored in the previous year, of which more than AED170 billion scored in digital service exports. The total value of the UAE's foreign trade of goods and services in 2023 reached a record of AED4.45 trillion."

His Highness noted, "According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the UAE was ranked 15th globally in outward Foreign Direct Investments in 2023, with the UAE's FDI abroad exceeding AED880 billion by the beginning of 2023."

His Highness added, "According to a report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the UAE achieved 15th place globally in outward foreign direct investment in 2023, as the country's investments abroad amounted to more than AED880 billion at the beginning of 2023."

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed emphasised, "Our economic journey continues, accelerates, and our developmental achievements are constant and will not stop."

Achievements of tourism and the UAE Tourism Strategy 2031 updates:
In its meeting, the Cabinet reviewed the achievements of the UAE tourism sector and updated the results of the UAE Tourism Strategy 2031. Figures indicated that, during the period from January to December 2023, the number of hotel guests increased to AED28 million guests, which reflects an increase of 11.3% compared to the same period of 2022.

Additionally, the number of hotel rooms reached 211 thousand, an increase of 3% compared to 2022, and the hospitality establishments' revenue registered AED43.6 billion, an increase of 15% compared to 2022.

The tourism sector's contribution to the national economy reached 9%, scoring AED165 billion in 2022, and is expected to reach AED180 billion in 2023. The national tourism sector also contributed to providing 751 thousand jobs in 2022, which is equivalent to 11.6% of the UAE labour market.

In 2022, the international tourism spending inside the UAE scored AED118 billion, while the domestic tourism spending scored AED47 billion. The UAE was ranked 25th globally and 1st in the Arab world and the MENA region by the Travel & Tourism Development Report of 2021, published by the World Economic Forum.

National efforts in the tourism sector have successfully led to the launch of several tourism initiatives and programmes through multiple collaborations between the federal government, the local governments, and the private sector, including the Unified National Tourism Identity, launching innovative marketing campaigns targeting all categories of domestic tourists, developing the tour guiding system in the country, and developing the programme for business leadership in the tourism sector, and launching the National Tourism Charter.

The National Agenda for Re-exports Development 2030
The Cabinet has reviewed the results of the National Agenda for Re-exports Development 2030. The agenda included 24 joint initiatives spanning all elements of impact in the sector, such as governance, value and empowerment. It also included tackling the financial side of tourism challenges, harnessing resources and the power of communication networks, both regionally and globally, to support export businesses and those active in the re-export sector, and further improving the services and infrastructure available to the export companies, and those operating in the export sector.

The 2030 agenda seeks to increase the re-exports added value to the national economy by 50%, to double the re-export through benefiting from the UAE's network of 50 commercial offices active across five continents, and to grow employment in this strategic sector by 20%.

The UAE government has concluded eight comprehensive economic partnership agreements with eight countries, meanwhile, negotiations are ongoing with more than five countries to finalise similar agreements.

The agreements provide exceptional benefits and privileges to the country's business community. Five agreements entered into force in 2022, three in 2023, and another one in January 2024.

It is forecasted that the comprehensive economic partnerships will increase the UAE's exports by 33% to reach a value of AED360 billion and will contribute more than AED153 billion to the country's Gross Domestic Product by 2031, which represents a growth of approximately 10% compared to 2022.

The year 2023 has also recorded a remarkable array of accomplishments in the UAE's foreign trade agenda, with more than 50 public entities and private sector companies representing the country in multiple international events. Besides, the Ministry of Economy has organised and participated in more than 25 international official business trips for trade and investment delegations from the UAE.

The national agenda for the development of service exports
In the same meeting, the Cabinet reviewed the results of implementing the national agenda for services export management, as the UAE was ranked 13th globally in services export according to the report released by the World Trade Organisation 2024. The value of its services export sector was estimated at AED606 billion ($165 billion) for 2023, compared to $154.7 billion value scored in 2022. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership programme is expected to increase the UAE's exports by 33% and contribute more than AED153 billion to the country's GDP by 2031, representing a growth of approximately 10% compared to the figures of the year 2022.

The UAE was ranked 14th globally in exports of goods during 2023 and 20th globally in global exports of digitally provided services, with a value of $48 billion, representing 30% of the UAE's total exports of services during 2023. The services represent 23% of the UAE's foreign trade. The country exported goods and services worth more than AED1 trillion during 2023. The UAE's foreign trade surplus in goods and services reached AED353 billion, 59.4% of which was in service trade. The UAE's goods and services foreign trade recorded during 2023 a value of AED4.4 trillion. The value of services exports to the UAE in 2022 was AED570 billion.

The programme designated five priority sectors and markets to focus the tourism efforts on in the coming years: information technology and communications, education, specialised professional services, financial services, Islamic financial services, medical tourism, and creative economy.

Since its approval by the Cabinet, the national agenda for service exports developments achieved other key milestones, such as the formation of a national committee to measure the country's services trade, launching a project of an online integrated platform which gathers all the national companies operating in all types of commerce, to facilitate the cooperation and create opportunities, at the local, regional and international levels, in addition to coordinating national efforts and supporting the strategic partners and the private sector in the UAE by providing updates and lists of highly anticipated commercial and economic events to be held inside the country and abroad.

The national agenda for non-oil export development
In line with the country's efforts to diversify sources of the gross domestic product and sustain national exports, the Cabinet discussed the results of implementing the national agenda for non-oil export development. The UAE achieved in 2022 unprecedented numbers, to name a few: the volume of its foreign trade exceeded AED2.57 trillion, scoring a growth of 13% compared to 2022; The volume of national non-oil export reached exceptional numbers, recording AED441 billion for the first time in its history, scoring a growth rate of 17% compared to 2022, the value of the national exports registered AED378 billion).

Additionally, the country's non-oil trade with the ten largest trade partners also recorded a growth of 7%, and the value of the national exports and re-export of goods scored in 2003 AED1,175 trillion.

In the first three quarters of 2023, non-oil exports exceeded AED309.5 billion and are expected to exceed AED400 billion in 2023. National initiatives and programmes have been implemented by the government to support this sector, including facilitating trade requirement and conditions, developing strategies for targeted economy sectors, launching new strategies to boost trade promotion and export development, supporting the growth of skilled workers, in addition to export-capacity-building programmes.

The results of the National agenda for the UAE's foreign direct investment outflows in 2023

The Cabinet reviewed the year 2023 results of implementing the national agenda for the UAE's foreign direct investment outflows. The results highlight that, by the end of 2022, the UAE was ranked 15th globally in the index of foreign direct investment outflows, according to the UNCTAD's World Investment Report, scoring a growth of 12% in the growth index of the cumulative balance of the foreign direct investment outflows, and the total value of the UAE's foreign Direct Investment abroad reached AED882 billion in 2022.

In line with the National agenda for the UAE's foreign direct investment outflows, the national efforts have successfully launched the UAE—AFRICA GATEWAY project to explore investment opportunities in Africa and incentivise UAE-based companies to invest in the neighbouring continent.

A study was conducted to identify promising geographical regions and investment opportunities. As a result, a database of priority investment sectors was created to guide investors. Besides, 15 strategic sectors were identified as priority fields for outward foreign direct investments, including Fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, sustainable mobility, and transportation infrastructure. The government has also been working on establishing more bilateral partnership agreements to protect and encourage investment. It outlined an ambitious plan to inaugurate more UAE commercial offices in new cities worldwide.

During the same meeting, the Cabinet approved the Federal Government's Consolidated Final Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023. It also discussed the updates of the executive plan to study data and trends of the investment markets in designated priority sectors, as well as the executive plan to study the economic forecasts in different locations worldwide and its potential investment opportunities.

The UAE Digital Economy Strategy 2031
Additionally, the Cabinet reviewed the latest updates on implementing the UAE Digital Economy Strategy 2031, which seeks to double the UAE's digital economy's contribution to the GDP from 9.7% to 19.4% within the next ten years. The UAE is among the region's leading countries in terms of the ratio of digital technologies adoption to GDP.

The relevant authorities and national experts' teams have successfully launched various initiatives and programmes in support of this strategy, including the participation of the UAE team in the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) of G20 and organising the "Remote" forum in Dubai that featured more than 800 experts, along with government and private sector leaders.

They also introduced a new flexible procedure for granting the Golden Visa to talented programmers and launched a new digital platform to support and attract companies in the digital economy.

Comprehensive Smart Health Initiative
In line with the comprehensive digital transformation, the Cabinet reviewed the updated outcome of implementing the comprehensive smart health initiative, which is a relevant example of the UAE's achievements in the field of harnessing state-of-the-art technologies to develop the health care services provided in the country. The initiative focuses on remote medical consultation and diagnosis, remotely prescribing medical products and remote medical follow-up.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention closely followed up on the initiative implementation at the federal government health facilities through the Emirates Health Services and at the private sector health facilities, in addition to facilities affiliated with local government health authorities.

The number of remote medical consultations and diagnoses reached around 1 million cases, the number of remote prescriptions reached 370,000 prescriptions, and the number of health facilities providing remote health care services during 2022-2023 reached nearly 200 facilities.

Updates on enhancing the efficiency of the UAE labour market
During the same meeting, the Cabinet reviewed the results of the government's efforts to enhance the efficiency of the labour market in the country for the year 2023. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, in coordination with all relevant federal and local entities, and in collaboration with the private sector establishements and through monitoring and spreading awareness in the labour sector in the UAE, has successfully implemented about (430,897) inspection visits verifying the abidance of establishments and workers to the law regulating labour relations and decisions.

Programmes to educate the workforce and employers about labour market legislation were offered. They included educating more than 2 million workers and (9,000) employers. The number of inspection visits were carried out to ensure the companies' compliance to the law that oblige the employers to stop their workers performing their jobs outdoors and exposed to the sun rays from working under the heat at noon. The inspections revealed that (99%) of employers adhered to the decision to stop work at noon, and (356) rest stations were constructed and equipped for delivery drivers in all regions of the country to provide a healthy and safe work environment for employees.

A total of 463,667 establishments are enrolled in the wage protection system, representing (97%) of the UAE private sector establishments. Besides, the percentage of employees enrolled on the wage protection system embodies (92%) of the private sector manpower, according to the year 2023 results.

Updates on the National Sports Strategy 2031
The meeting reviewed the results of implementing the National Sports Strategy 2031, within which many sporting projects and programmes were launched and completed countrywide. The revealed results included: developing new mechanisms for elite and high-level sports, as well as sports competition and games in education sector, hunting for promising sports talents and empowering them, completing the national sports survey and the federations transformation project.

The outcome also included forming the elite sports committee, defining sporting categories and specifying sports of priority, developing and approving the school games plan, providing support to sports federations, and empowering elite athletes in preparation for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024.

The Cabinet also reviewed a number of government reports on the achievements and performance of many federal government entities and councils during the year 2023, including the Emirates Investment Authority, the Board of Directors of the General Civil Aviation Authority, the Board of Trustees of the United Arab Emirates University, the Health Council, the UAE Circular Economy Council, among others.

The Cabinet also reviewed reports, including a report on the UAE's joining the general increase in the authorised capital of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and reports on the achievements and performance of several federal entities and councils for the year 2023, such as the results of the performance of the Emirates Investment Authority, and a report on the achievements and work of the Board of Directors of the General Civil Aviation Authority, the Board of Trustees of the United Arab Emirates University, the Health Council, the UAE's Circular Economy Council, the UAE Council for Environmental and Municipal Action, the Financial Restructuring Committee, and a report on the latest updates on the use of digital UAE Pass in all government transactions in the country.

The Cabinet also reviewed reports on the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation's participation in the Abu Dhabi Dialogue, the Future of Work Forum at the World Government Summit, the country's participation in the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting, and participation in the BRICS meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

The Cabinet also approved the Federal National Council's request to discuss "The Government's policy on the education sector employees' quality of life and its impact on the outcome of the education process".

Guide of public policies in the UAE government
To enhance the government work system in the UAE, the Cabinet approved the UAE Federal Government's Guide to Making Public Policies. The guide aims to provide public policy specialists in the government with tools and guidelines for making and outlining public policy projects. It also details extensively the criteria for setting up public policy objectives, defining the desired results and targets, and adopting the right system for evaluating the impact of policies and updating them according to work requirements.

Additionally, the guide outlines the mechanism for making executive plans, finance sources, and governance frames in line with the best and latest international practices in the field, as well as defining roles, responsibilities and requirements of the policies' success, among other key subjects related to the integrated cycle of policies making.

Executive Regulations on the federal decree-law regarding VAT
The Cabinet approved a decision regarding the Executive Regulations of the federal decree-law regarding VAT taxes. The law stipulates the exemption of in-kind donations between charity institutions and government entities of a value not exceeding AED5 million from the provisions of legal supply and the exemption of government buildings and real estate assets supplied by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and other government entities from paying the VAT. It also describes the required documents to prove goods exiting the country for tax exemption and the exempting of the services of Investment funds management and other services related to virtual assets.

The Cabinet also approved a decision on the Executive Regulations of the federal decree-law regarding children of unknown parentage. The decision explains the controls and required procedures for obtaining the relevant official documents, the liabilities on local authorities in the detailed reports in case the child of unknown parentage has been subject to abuse, the formation of the foster families committee, data on the fostering request, and controls for each of the following: The foster family, the disclosure to the child in custody about their social circumstances, temporary fostering, procedures for returning the adopted child, extending the custody period, terminating the custody period, field visits, and electronic register.

The Cabinet approved a decision regarding the technical regulations on the technical requirements for electric vehicles and the technical regulations for legal measuring instruments. The decision defines the responsibilities of the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer and the distributor, the technical requirements for the initial and periodic verification processes of measuring instruments, and the conformity requirements.

Restructuring the Board of Trustees of the UAE University and the Coordinating Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research

The Cabinet adopted a decision to reconstitute the Board of Trustees of the United Arab Emirates University, headed by Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, the Chancelor, with the membership of Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Saeed Al Bahri Salem Al Ameri, Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Aisha Abdullah Miran, Director-General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai, Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Director-General of Government of Dubai Media Office, Taiba Abdul Rahim Al Hashemi, CEO of ADNOC Offshore, Professor Dr. Lord Ajay Kikai of the University of London, and Dr. Tariq Abdul Qadir Bin Hindi, Regional Chairman of Edelman Middle East Company, Major General Pilot Khalid bin Abdullah Bu Al-Bu Ainain, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Baynouna Group, Mohammed Haji Al-Khouri, Director-General of the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, Professor Dr. Riyad Abdul Latif Al-Muhaidib, along with a representative of the Supreme Council for National Security, and a representative of the youth category.

In the same meeting, the Cabinet approved a decision to reconstitute the Coordination Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research, headed by the Minister of Education, with the membership of the heads of federal higher education institutions, directors of federal higher education institutions, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, two members from the Ministry of Education, and the Director of the Academic Accreditation Commission at the Ministry of Education.

Ratifying four international agreements
In foreign affairs, the Cabinet ratified during the meeting four international agreements between the UAE and other countries, including an agreement with Egypt on deporting individuals sentenced to a period of imprisonment, an agreement with Hungary on economic collaboration, and an agreement with the Republic of Chile on cooperation and support in matters related to customs. The fourth agreement ratifies the amends to the regulations of the World Tourism Organisation.

The Cabinet also approved the UAE's requests to host both the 18th International Conference on Network and Systems Security, and the 10th International Symposium on Security and Privacy in Social Networks and Big Data.