UAE enjoys 18 per cent share in region’s total digital economy

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

The digital economy, which is marked by its fast growth, has become contributing a large share to the GDP of countries in general.

The Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Chairman Abdullah Al Muwaiji said that the digital economy needs to unite all efforts of government and private sectors to optimally develop and benefit from it, affirming that the UAE has become the top Arab country in this field with a share of 18 per cent of the total Arab digital economy.

ACCI organised a symposium titled ‘The Digital Economy’, which was chaired by Abdullah Al Muwaiji, Chairman of Ajman Chamber.

It came as part of a series of seminars organised by the Chamber to discuss various topics related to economic affairs in order to exchange information and come up with recommendations that enhance its performance and outputs towards the business community in the emirate.

Among the attendees were Salem Al Suwaidi, the Director General, and Khawla Khalfan, Executive Director of Support Services, alongside a number of the Chamber’s employees.

The symposium defined the digital economy as that type of economy, where its operations are entirety based on data. It relies on the economic indicators and the standard economic bases of supply and demand for electronic industries and electronic services resulting from them, as well as information transfer and commercial exchange through these digital services. That process is called electronic commerce or electronic industries, which is used to develop the process of administrative systems in order to increase commercial operations, thus increasing the national income and the GDP.

The digital economy consists of two main components, the first is e-business and the second is e-commerce, and from them the subsidiary components of the digital economy generate. It depends on the optimal use of information, data, information technology, as well as means of communication in achieving sustainable development and growth.

The symposium further reviewed the associated multiple sectors to the digital economy such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, cloud computing, digital technologies, robotics, which empowered it to contribute to the global GDP by 22 per cent. The USA tops the world in the field of digital economy. According to the global statistics, the size of the digital economy in the Middle East reached 30 billion dollars at the end of 2018, and that it is growing at an accelerating rate of about 30 per cent annually.

At the end of the symposium, Al Muwaiji stressed that the use of technology and data processing is the cornerstone of the development plans, and a major reason for enacting economic laws that keep abreast of those rapid changes. He also emphasised that the partnership between the government and private sectors is necessary to implement the digital strategies at all levels, especially the economic ones.

Earlier the Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) received an economic delegation from Yueyang city, Hunan Province — People’s Republic of China, with the aim of enhancing the economic cooperation and exploring the investment opportunities available to both parties in various fields.

Mohammad Ali Al-Janahi, Executive Director of the Promotion and Investment Division, received the delegation that was led by Xu Yunbo - Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, while comprised a number of government officials and owners of companies and factories in the city.

Among the attendees at the meeting were Aysha Hilal, Director of Information and Economic Studies Department, and Abdullah Abdulmohsen Al Nuaimi, Director of Relations and Member Support Office at Ajman Chamber.

During the meeting, Al Janahi praised the depth of the UAE-China relations in general and the ties between Ajman and Hunan Province in particular, which are witnessing successive developments on the economic level that was reinforced by holding several meetings, conclusion of agreements and exchange of visits between both parties.

Al Janahi also briefed the delegation on the most powerful elements that the emirate of Ajman enjoys, as well as its distinguished location in the country. He shed light on the industrial sector in the emirate, which contributes 33 per cent to its GDP. He further explained that the statistics are remarkably promising the possibility of increasing commercial cooperation between the two parties in the future. Moreover, he pointed to the development of the real estate, building and construction sectors taking place in emirate and the investment opportunities available in Al-Zorah area and the new areas in the emirate as well.