UAE marks golden jubilee of its founding

SINCE its founding on Dec 2, 1971, the forward-looking and modern United Arab Emirates has been a shining star of highly successful economic and social development in the Middle East with many achievements in its 50 years long journey, thanks to the progressive outlook of its leaders.

Building on the legacy of the UAE's founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the nation building journey continues under the leadership of its President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The country's progress is reflected in a thriving nation that hosts people from more than 200 nationalities, has a 93 per cent literacy rate, and welcomes over 15 million tourists annually. Some 70 per cent of its university graduates are women, many of whom have been an integral part of the achievements of the UAE. The Emirati women have demonstrated their ability to lead and manage projects in sectors like advanced science, space, energy and health.

They play a key role in major projects like the UAE's 'Hope Probe' satellite sent up to orbit Mars, as well as the starting of the successful and safe operation of the country's first reactor at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. Emirati women hold various diplomatic positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, where they make up 42.5 per cent of the workforce.

ROBUST GROWTH

The UAE's economy is the second largest in the Arab world, with robust and sustainable growth generated through tourism, transport and logistics, financial services, real estate, banking, and renewable energy. Increasingly, the UAE is looking to the future economy, prioritising investments in education, information technology, artificial intelligence, health, and manufacturing.

Through substantial investments in infrastructure, the UAE has emerged as a regional and global trading hub. This is bolstered by its strategic geographic location between Asia, Europe, and Africa and the country serves as a gateway to the Middle East.

It is noteworthy that the UAE has successfully invested to diversify away from dependence on oil, and going forward, aims to build a knowledge economy. Non-oil economic activity now accounts for 70 per cent of its GDP.

In an interview with The Business Times on the occasion of his country's national day on Dec 2, UAE Ambassador to Singapore Jamal Abdulla AlSuwaidi - who was posted here in January this year - highlights that the UAE and Singapore diplomatic ties date back to 1985.

"Bilateral relations between Singapore and the UAE are substantive, warm, genuine, as well as based on mutual respect and serve the interest of both counties. The relationship between both countries has steadily grown year by year in both scope and depth and spanning many different areas of cooperation," he tells BT.

The Singapore-UAE Comprehensive Partnership pact inked in 2019 is a framework to deepen existing areas of cooperation and catalyse new ones for the mutual benefit and interests of both countries.

"The UAE now ranks among the top destinations for Singapore investment in the region, and the UAE is the region's top trading partner of Singapore since 2012," says the ambassador. The total trade between both countries reached S$21 billion in 2019, but dropped to S$13 billion in 2020 as a result of the disruption caused by Covid-19.

While the Covid-19 pandemic created a lot of uncertainty among businesses, the impact on the UAE companies in Singapore varies according to sectors.

For example, logistics, airlines and retail companies were hit harder than those in manufacturing. Companies like GlobalFoundries - one of the biggest UAE companies in Singapore - did very well during the pandemic and is expanding its business here.

Recently, it announced new investments worth US$4 billion for the expansion of its wafer fabrication facility in Woodlands, taking its total fixed assets investments in Singapore to US$12 billion.

There are 16 major UAE companies in Singapore including ADNOC Marketing International Ltd Singapore, Emirates Bank International, ENOC Singapore, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Horizon Singapore Terminals Pvt Ltd, Borouge Pte Ltd, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airlines, and Al Futtaim Group.

GlobalFoundries employs around 6,000 Singaporean and foreign workers, while dnata employs more than 3,000 Singaporean and foreign workers.

Ambassador AlSuwaidi says that Singapore's GIC invested US$600 million in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's crude pipeline infrastructure in 2019. In addition, Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority launched an Open Innovation Call to source for 5G solutions in the transport and mobility sector with UAE telco service provider, Etisalat.

He adds that there are around 600 Singaporean companies operating in the UAE outside and in free zones. These companies are involved in a diverse range of sectors such as logistics, financial services, hospitality, and urban solutions and are also present across several Emirates, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah, and Sharjah. Surbana Jurong, Sembcorp, ST Engineering, and Meinhardt Group are some of the largest Singaporean companies investing in the UAE.

MORE ECONOMIC COOPERATION

"However, leaders from both countries believe that more can be done to increase economic cooperation in complementary sectors, as both countries could leverage existing engagement platforms to achieve this goal.

Singapore is the first non-Middle Eastern country to sign a Free Trade Agreement with a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nation," says the UAE envoy.

The UAE hosts the largest concentration of Singaporeans in the Middle East. There are about 3,000 Singaporeans who are currently living and working in the UAE. In 2019, Singapore welcomed over 80,000 visitors from the UAE.

The recent changes in foreign investment regulations in the UAE such as the introduction of a new law allowing foreign investors to have up to 100 per cent ownership of their companies is expected to attract more Singapore companies to head to the UAE.

"It is also important to mention that the introduction of the golden and green visa, besides the 5-year visa entries will certainly promote the UAE as an attractive place for business," he adds.