Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development has recently unveiled the emirate Economic Strategic Plan (2008-2012)- the first economic plan following the release of the Economic Vision 2030. The five-year plan comes in line with the general economic guidelines set by the Executive Council of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, under the leadership of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

 

H.E Mohamed Omar Abdullah, Undersecretary of the Department of Economic Development, said: “The main objective of this plan is to monitor the emirate’s economic performance till the end of the year 2012 in light of the development objectives of the Economic Vision 2030 on the long run”. 

 

He also added that the plan focuses on the sectors targeted by the “Economic Vision 2030” as motivators for economic growth and diversification, such as renewable energy, basic industries, tourism, media, IT, communications and others. The strategy aims at identifying the needs of these sectors to grow, in terms of legislative environment, financial and human resources and infrastructures.

 

The comprehensive studies, upon which the plan has been based, indicate that investing in the targeted sectors will enable the emirate to achieve its developmental objectives set for the first five years of the “Economic Vision 2030”, thus motivating the emirate’s economy on the middle range in accordance with the pre-set strategic road map.   

 

Abdullah also said that the five-year plan addresses several issues; the foremost of them is foreign investments, adding: “The studies we conducted in this regard gave us deep insight on the financial needs of each of the targeted sectors throughout the plan’s period, either in form of local or foreign capitals, or through local and foreign loans”.     

 

The plan is also regarded as a sectoral development strategy with an indicative nature, which assesses the developmental effects of investing in each of the targeted sectors and also provides some recommendations to fill the potential gaps.

 

As for encouraging partnership between the private and public sectors, the department invited the major businesses in each of the targeted sectors to contribute in developing the plan. Abdullah also added: “We have consulted with the major players in each sector to ensure that their investment plans highlight the importance of encouraging small and medium-sized investments in playing a greater role in promoting economic growth and development”.

 

In addition to the emirate’s strategic economic development plan, the five-year plan highlights the diversification of economic resources: “The plan is a continuation of the emirate’s drive for a more sustainable and diversified economy with the intention of reducing dependency on oil and gas, as stipulated in the Economic Vision 2030”.

 

According to Abdullah, the plan assesses the socio-economic impacts of the emirate’s potential economic growth. “In accordance with the vision of our wise leadership, this plan highlights the developmental objectives related to achieving sustainable and balanced growth on both regional and social basis,” He added.

 

He also pointed out that the plan focuses on providing the targeted sectors with their needs of human resources and related data and analysis, in addition to providing the national human resources with adequate education and training to play a greater role in pushing the emirate’s economic growth forward. 

 

As to which extent the emirate’s economy has been hit by the recent international economic crisis, he commented: “A large number of experts and think-tanks share with us the vision that Abu Dhabi’s economy is one of the least affected economies by the credit crunch and the ensuing economic crisis. The emirate’s economic growth has never come to a halt during this year, 2009. The plan also indicates that emirate’s economy will witness rapid and substantial growth throughout the upcoming three years”.

 

As part of its efforts to formulate the plan, the department surveyed the leading players in the targeted sectors to identify the hypotheses, related to the emirate’s macro economy, upon which they built their investment plans, with the aim of assessing their understanding of the new macroeconomic outcomes, in light of the new realities stemming from the international credit crunch on the both regional and global levels.

 

The department spent around nine months to carefully formulate the plan with the involvement of more than 70 organisations from both public and private sectors.