Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, a raft of new initiatives were announced today.
At the Abu Dhabi Government Private Sector forum attended by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who oversaw the development of the new programmes in his capacity as Member of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Executive Committee, nine initiatives for businesses, investors, entrepreneurs and SMEs, were revealed in line with Abu Dhabi’s vision to become one of the best places in the world to do business, invest, live, work and visit.
Celebrating six months of the three-year Abu Dhabi Development Accelerator Programme “Ghadan 21” in action since officially commencing at the start of 2019, the Private Sector Forum, hosted more than 200 leaders from the public and private sectors.
The announcements culminated in the launch of a major step forward in opening doors to doing business and investing in the Emirate - the Abu Dhabi Instant Licence. The Instant Licence makes applying to conduct commercial activity in Abu Dhabi simpler than ever before. All licence applications are now streamlined through a digital portal and consolidated into broader licencing categories offering businesses greater flexibility. The easy-to-use system is fast, efficient, and accessible to all. Approvals are processed instantly online and licence holders in most sectors may begin conducting their business activities immediately.
“Building a sustainable, globally-competitive knowledge-based economy requires a solid partnership between the private and public sector. The Government of Abu Dhabi is fully committed to enabling the private sector by providing a supportive business environment, creating new public-private partnership opportunities and enhancing the ease of doing business,” said His Excellency Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development. “The latest Ghadan 21 initiatives and Abu Dhabi Instant Licence are vital private sector accelerators as they are focused on speed, flexibility, and simplicity - reducing operating costs, introducing new investment opportunities and establishing innovative licensing frameworks. They are initiatives that will help drive forward our goal to increase the private sector's contribution to Abu Dhabi's GDP from the current 32% to 37% by 2021.”
To help accelerate the private sector’s participation in the economy, the Department of Economic Development (DED) launched two initiatives. The first is the industrial tariffs initiative to enhance the competitiveness of Abu Dhabi and support the development of the industrial sector. The new industrial tariffs will be determined by an established scoring mechanism based on three criteria: economic impact, productivity and electric load.
The second initiative by DED is the introduction of new licences for technology businesses. The Tech licences package provides 13 new business activities in the Tech sector, positioning Abu Dhabi as a global tech beacon.
Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), the Department of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank launched the SME Credit Guarantee scheme with a signing ceremony at the opening of the Forum. The SME Growth Loan will provide more accessible financing opportunities for SMEs based in Abu Dhabi through a guarantee provided by the Abu Dhabi government to Abu Dhabi banks. The scheme guarantees up to 75% of loan value, which will be provided to the bank in case of default, enabling banks to secure a certain level of lending to the market.
To find more investment opportunities, ADIO also launched a dedicated Corporate Research and Development Programme. The Programme is the first fund dedicated to supporting companies’ research and development activities in Abu Dhabi. AED 4 billion has been dedicated to providing rebates on R&D spend and commercialisation costs of new R&D activities happening in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA) launched the Open Data Programme offering an advanced safe integrated technical system that facilitates sharing data and enables user access to reliable data sources quickly, safely and seamlessly. The Open Data Programme aims to empower research institutions and other bodies by providing access to public data to support the scientific research and development sector, as well as encourage private sector organisations, investors and individuals to create innovative solutions to solve different challenges.
ADDA also provided updates on TAMM Journeys, a one stop shop portal which allows citizens, residents, visitors and investors to access multiple government services. TAMM offers a wide range of government services through the integrated journeys approach, which will eventually include 1600 government services available through 80 journeys. “Find a Job”, “Economic Licenses” and “Social Services” are part of the journeys which will include health care, education, entertainment, housing, investment and social development.
Managed by the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ADCED), the Sharaka platform (which means ‘partnership’ in Arabic) is built on a trusted communication mechanism based on the concepts of transparency, responsiveness, and constructive dialogue. Cases are dealt with through a set of criteria that ensure payments are appropriately billed and settled on time. In addition to dues, Sharaka has introduced a 30-Day payment policy under which government entities and state-owned-entities will provide 30-day payment terms to their contractors.
Moreover, ADIO with the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) launched Ecotourism Incentive Packages. The ecotourism packages promote three under-explored tourism archetypes (Mirfa, desert locations and private islands) to attract additional visitors with new activities. The packages provide benefits to hospitality investment and eco-tourism operators including land lease exemptions, tax waivers, accelerated licensing, marketing and government infrastructure investment. The packages support Ghadan 21’s ambition to enrich the tourism offerings in the Emirate and make it a place everyone aspires to visit.
Ghadan 21 is a first-of-its-kind accelerator programme in the region, driving economic development, innovation, and ease of doing business in order to make Abu Dhabi’s economy one that is even more dynamic and globally integrated.
The three-year programme from 2019 to 2021 includes an AED50 billion fund that is being invested across four strategic pillars: economic, knowledge, liveability and social.