His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, reviewed the working plans and objectives of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, which was recently established as part of the latest UAE Cabinet structure announced by him on July 5, 2020, to develop the country’s industrial sector and enable it to fulfil its future development requirements.
The new Cabinet structure is also part of the leadership’s vision for challenges and addressing them through innovative tools and solutions, as well as for investing in human and financial resources to achieve community prosperity and economic empowerment, and raising the capacities of human resources to be able to lead this vital sector.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid chairs the meeting in Dubai on Sunday. WAM
The meeting was attended by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
"Our industrial sector has three national priorities, which are achieving industrial security, ensuring local added value and raising the competitiveness of our industries. The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology will play a pivotal role in our future national economy, and we are looking forward to rapid results in the coming period," Sheikh Mohammed said.
"We have proven that our work and achievements are on the same level as our dreams and aspirations, and we want to dream more and achieve more," he added, stressing that the pos-COVID-19 economy requires national industrial security, flexible ideas and new tools.
The ministry’s strategy is part of the new vision of the UAE Government system for the post-COVID-19 era, to develop comprehensive government action mechanisms to make the UAE Government more flexible and efficient.
The ministry’s functions and objectives:
Dr Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Sarah Bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, presented the ministry’s short and long-term strategies, including its periodic assessments, projects and priorities.
The presentation included an explanation of the ministry’s functions, objectives, working mechanisms, and road map for achieving its desired objectives, in line with the country’s overall development plans and under the framework of the comprehensive development vision of the new government structure.
Dr Al Jaber pointed out that the ministry aims to achieve the vision of the leadership to strengthen the contributions of advanced technologies to the country’s sustainable economic growth, as well as to raise the efficiency and competitiveness of the industrial sector and support strategic industries that drive the national economy and increase GDP, stressing that the ministry will draft policies, laws and programmes to create a motivating legislative system that will support the growth of the sector, support small and medium-sized enterprises, SME, and companies that depend on advanced technologies, ensure local added value, encourage the establishment of industrial complexes, support the construction sector, generate industrial exports, raise local capacities in the field of advanced technology, and implement programmes that will ensure the competitiveness of national products in strategic sectors.
"There is an interdependent and complementary relationship between science, advanced technology, research and development, and the role of human resources in future growth sectors and how to train them to do their required roles in this field, so the UAE can become a leading country of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that relies on advanced technology," Al Amiri said.
The ministerial team stressed that the ministry will focus on achieving self-sufficiency in key areas, such as water, food, energy, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and will adopt three pillars to achieve its objectives, which are supporting industries that benefit from the country’s competitive advantages, supporting efforts related to advanced science and technology, and reinforcing local added value.
In the coming period, the ministry will draft a general strategy and executive plans to achieve its objectives, aimed at increasing the flexibility of the industrial and advanced technology sector and achieving sustainable economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic.
WAM