UAE Investment Map sets strategic direction for foreign investments to the UAE

His Excellency Engineer Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, said the UAE Investment Map, which will officially be launched in November 2011, will set the strategic direction of investments in the country.

He said the initiative comes in line with the Ministry’s commitment to drive the economic development of the UAE through vital projects that contribute to the enhancing the overall competitiveness of the economy.

Mr Al Mansoori said the Investment Map is being implemented by the Ministry in cooperation and partnership with Dar Al Tawasol, a UAE national company that will provide  provide strategic and technical support for the project as part of a long-term plan of 84 months until 2018.

He said the key objective of the project is to promote investment opportunities in the UAE by highlighting the advantages and incentives of investing in the country across various high growth sectors.

Mr Al Mansoori said the Ministry will adopt an executive programme to drive projects that will provide sufficient and relevant data on the UAE investment environment and the various sectors that are ideal for foreign investments.

He said the Investment Map project will further strengthen the pillars of the knowledge based economy – a priority for the Ministry.  Nearly 92% of the Ministry’s services are currently handled electronically and it is expected to rise to 95% by the end of the year by working with other local departments. The Minister reiterated the importance of strengthening awareness on the concepts of knowledge economy and the need to  drive innovation across all economic sectors.

Firas Dahlan, Executive Director of Dar Al Tawasol, said that the company would set up four offices in four countries in the first stage to highlight information on various projects implemented in the UAE and promote them.

He added that the company has undertaken a comprehensive study on the investment opportunities in the UAE for the countries falling under the Investment Map and will target major international companies and global investors.

Nada Al Hashimi, Director of Investment Management at the Ministry, said that the first phase of the Investment Map focuses on 11 countries in Asia, Europe and South America, and the Ministry will work in collaboration with Dar Al Tawasol to open representative offices initially in Britain, Italy, Spain and South Korea. She explained that there is coordination at the federal level with commercial representation offices to promote investments in the countries that have been identified.

She said that as the first part of the implementation of the plan a website that provides comprehensive information on the UAE will be launched, where each Emirate can furnish data on investment opportunities. The data will then be analyzed and will help identify the strength of each emirate.

She said that meetings with commercial affairs representatives at embassies operating in the UAE will be held to explain the Investment Map apart from official visits to countries identified for promoting UAE’s investment environment.