“Innovation is important, but actual implementation is even more essential” said Dr Noura Al Dhaheri, Chief Executive Officer at Maqta Gateway, at a session on day two of the UN World Data Forum 2018, organised by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah on October 22-24, 2018.
“Maqta Gateway was launched in 2016 with a vision to have a sustainable, diversified, high-value-added economy, leading to better opportunities for all. The main target is to create ‘a single-window portal’ to be the virtual bridge connecting all entities involved in import and export trade transactions,” Dr Al Dhaheri added.
“Maqta Gateway strives to share technology and innovation for the common good, in an effort to transfer trade into a seamless digital platform,” she noted, explaining that to achieve this objective, Maqta Gateway launched the MAMAR Application, a digital portal providing access to data on all Abu Dhabi traders. MAMAR simplifies trade and freight-forwarding procedures by sea, air and land, and offers fully integrated services, most notably, the clear and transparent track-and-trace shipment service.
There has been a significant uptick in the number of digital transactions from 94,270 in 2016 to more than 6 million transactions per year, Dr Al Dhaheri revealed, noting that digitalisation had also allowed for a considerable reduction in CO2 emissions (6,200 tonnes saved), in addition to saving time (close to 19,000 man hours), cost and paperwork.
Maqta Gateway had launched their concept Blockchain-powered app SILSAL on Sunday, October 21. The application streamlines the flow of information to facilitate and improve trade, offering efficient security, reliability and reachability solutions to enable information exchange, giving users unprecedented insight and allowing them to track and trade their shipments.
“The world of trade is changing fast and SILSAL is the way forward,” Dr Al Dhaheri asserted, adding that Maqta Gateway takes pride in the fact that 70% of its team are Emirati nationals and 90% of all employees are below the age of 40.
The second UN World Data Forum will welcome more than 2,500 data experts, policy-makers, and representatives from academia, private companies and civil society organisations (CSOs) from around the world. The event follows the inaugural Forum, which took place in 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa.
