emirates7 - The Economic Integration Committee convened its first meeting of 2025, chaired by Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, and attended by Alia bint Abdulla Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, along with directors from all local economic development departments.
The meeting reviewed the Committee’s 2024 achievements in fostering national economic growth and diversification. Discussions also focused on the Committee’s contributions to enhancing the country’s business and investment competitiveness and refining economic legislation and policies in alignment with international standards.
Highlighting the UAE’s economic achievements in 2024, Bin Touq remarked, “The UAE’s performance reflects collective efforts that have advanced our shift to an innovative, knowledge-based economic model. This progress has created a world-class business environment conducive to the success of enterprises, investors, and startups from across the globe.”
He further noted that these initiatives bolstered the UAE’s economic growth and global competitiveness. Non-oil GDP grew by 4.4% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, with non-oil sectors contributing 75% of the GDP by the end of H1 2024.
Bin Touq praised the Committee’s efforts to strengthen dialogue and collaboration with federal and local stakeholders, resulting in enhanced economic legislation aligned with global best practices. These efforts included developing and harmonizing laws, proposing measures for economic sustainability, and promoting national economic sectors and activities.
The Minister reaffirmed the Committee’s commitment to advancing new economic legislation and resolutions to position the UAE as a global leader in proactive legal frameworks for emerging sectors. This aligns with the goals of the ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision.
The meeting also reviewed the Committee’s 2024 annual report, which outlined its role in issuing and developing five laws and four economic policies targeting key sectors such as cooperatives, family businesses, consumer rights, corporate governance, and anti-money laundering.
Additionally, the Committee supported 13 initiatives in critical economic areas. Highlights included an intellectual property (IP) initiative aimed at fostering innovation and competitiveness in UAE products globally and measures to empower family businesses, ensuring their growth and sustainability across generations.
Over the past year, the Committee convened seven times, established seven national task forces to enhance economic integration, and issued 79 recommendations, over 98% of which have been implemented. Efforts included reinforcing the UAE’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) framework. These measures led to the UAE’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
The meeting also emphasized advancing the UAE’s intellectual property system, including implementing the Ministry of Economy’s ‘Instablock’ initiative to protect live online broadcast copyrights and promptly address IP violations.
Another key project, ‘IP Finance,’ seeks to enhance access to financial resources for startups by leveraging intangible assets such as patents. This initiative supports innovation-driven entrepreneurship and strengthens the UAE’s intellectual property framework within the startup and SME ecosystem, ultimately boosting the knowledge economy and emerging economic sectors.
The meeting reviewed the Committee’s 2024 achievements in fostering national economic growth and diversification. Discussions also focused on the Committee’s contributions to enhancing the country’s business and investment competitiveness and refining economic legislation and policies in alignment with international standards.
Highlighting the UAE’s economic achievements in 2024, Bin Touq remarked, “The UAE’s performance reflects collective efforts that have advanced our shift to an innovative, knowledge-based economic model. This progress has created a world-class business environment conducive to the success of enterprises, investors, and startups from across the globe.”
He further noted that these initiatives bolstered the UAE’s economic growth and global competitiveness. Non-oil GDP grew by 4.4% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, with non-oil sectors contributing 75% of the GDP by the end of H1 2024.
Bin Touq praised the Committee’s efforts to strengthen dialogue and collaboration with federal and local stakeholders, resulting in enhanced economic legislation aligned with global best practices. These efforts included developing and harmonizing laws, proposing measures for economic sustainability, and promoting national economic sectors and activities.
The Minister reaffirmed the Committee’s commitment to advancing new economic legislation and resolutions to position the UAE as a global leader in proactive legal frameworks for emerging sectors. This aligns with the goals of the ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision.
The meeting also reviewed the Committee’s 2024 annual report, which outlined its role in issuing and developing five laws and four economic policies targeting key sectors such as cooperatives, family businesses, consumer rights, corporate governance, and anti-money laundering.
Additionally, the Committee supported 13 initiatives in critical economic areas. Highlights included an intellectual property (IP) initiative aimed at fostering innovation and competitiveness in UAE products globally and measures to empower family businesses, ensuring their growth and sustainability across generations.
Over the past year, the Committee convened seven times, established seven national task forces to enhance economic integration, and issued 79 recommendations, over 98% of which have been implemented. Efforts included reinforcing the UAE’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) framework. These measures led to the UAE’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
The meeting also emphasized advancing the UAE’s intellectual property system, including implementing the Ministry of Economy’s ‘Instablock’ initiative to protect live online broadcast copyrights and promptly address IP violations.
Another key project, ‘IP Finance,’ seeks to enhance access to financial resources for startups by leveraging intangible assets such as patents. This initiative supports innovation-driven entrepreneurship and strengthens the UAE’s intellectual property framework within the startup and SME ecosystem, ultimately boosting the knowledge economy and emerging economic sectors.