United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Finance and Industry Mohammed Khalfan Bin Kharbash, said yesterday that the regional economy held out a more optimistic outlook than the global one, thanks to the growth of tourism, services and a booming stock market, coupled with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) customs union and regional trade initiatives.
“In this region, we continue to enjoy the benefits of a healthy macroeconomic environment and, in developing a non-oil economy, the UAE has become a model for the entire Middle East” said Kharbash while speaking at the 3rd “Trade, Treasury and Cash Management in the Middle East” conference organized by EuroFinance. The conference will take place from March 28 to 29, 2004 at the Grand Hyatt, Dubai.
“We believe that the UAE’s contribution to global trade will get larger. Having recognised the benefits of technology to trade, the government and the growing private sector want to be active participants in efforts to increase global trade,” Kharbash added.
Kharbash also noted that global businesses today sensed an opportunity for enhanced cross-border cooperation from the synergies offered by the on-line world. He said importers and exporters were implementing radical efficiencies through the time and cost savings afforded by information and communications technologies. “Bank treasury officials are exploiting the potential for international securities trading which allows liquidity mismatches to be reallocated at the speed of a keyboard click” he added.
He also stressed that the UAE has been proactive in its endeavor to introduce efficiencies throughout government. He said that the UAE was aware of the possibilities of technology and had successfully introduced several initiatives in the public and private sectors including performance-based budgeting which was marrying the government’s fiscal allocations to results rather than to expectations. “The establishment of e-government is making life easier for people in the UAE and the e-dirham program allows the man in the street to pay for a range of government services with a single card and with a single transaction. He said adding that new technology will lead to increased transparency. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
