UAE Ministry of Economy has signed an MoU with Dubai Industrial City, a leading manufacturing and logistics destination and a member of Tecom Investments, in line with strategy to boost mutual co-operation between the two.

The agreement was signed by Mohammed bin Abdulazziz Al Shihhi, the director general of Ministry of Economy and Abdullah Belhoul, the managing director of Dubai Industrial City in the presence of UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Al Mansoori said the ministry was keen to strengthen the industrial sector in line with the UAE Vision 2021 which aims to build a knowledge-based economy and encourage small and medium enterprises.

The UAE industrial sector, he stated, had played a key role in driving the country’s economy. "The country had adopted a growth strategy based on supporting the industry sector and attracting more foreign and local investments to this sector to increase its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduce the dependence on oil as a basic source of national income," he noted.

Stating that the country is keen to enhance the economic diversification policy, Al Mansoori said the manufacturing industries contributed 9.1 per cent to the GDP in 2011 with the volume of the industry sector increasing from Dh72.63 billion ($19.76 billion) in 2007 to Dh114.05 billion in 2011. He noted that 5,201 industrial companies and facilities were registered with the employing more than 399,000 workers.

Commenting on the pact, Belhoul said, "It reflected the vital role played by the ministry in developing the private sector, and asserted that the signing of the MoU was a key part of the joint efforts of the ministry and Dubai Industrial City to encourage the inflow of investments as part of Vision 2030 goalsto diversify the sources of income."

This initiative, he noted, stems from Dubai Industrial City’s strategy to strengthen co-operation with the public sector to achieve the aspiration of its partners and enhance the competitiveness of factories operating in the City.

Al Shihhi said the ministry was committed to increasing the co-operation with the private sector to drive the economic diversification process and enhance the business and investment environmentin line with 'Vision 2021' and MoE’s strategy for 2011-2013.

He pointed out that the MoU will aim to exchange information and visits, hold joint workshops and events, and organize annual meeting with Dubai Industrial City to address the production and export obstacles and to enhance the role of the private sector in the country’s comprehensive growth.-TradeArabia News Service