The UAE was ranked first regionally and 16th globally in the latest Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum (Davos) in Switzerland.

The report is one of the most important global competitiveness reports, which monitors annual performance and competitiveness of the economies of countries in terms of strength, weakness, impact on quality of life, prosperity and well-being of people.

Switzerland, Singapore and the United States remain the three world’s most competitive economies. Others in the top 10 are: The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Japan, Hog Kong and Finland.

Among the Arab countries, Qatar ranked 18 globally, Saudi Arabia stood at 29; Kuwait 38; Bahrain 48; Jordan 63; Oman 66 and Egypt 115.

India moved to 39th position from 55 last year.

The UAE positions itself on the world stage, thanks to the efforts of the federal and local taskforces who are working as one team under one vision for 2021, and others in this respect, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairperson of the Board of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, was quoted as saying by Wam news agency.

These taskforces work in accordance with the plans and strategy and subject to continuous evaluation and development in line with the aspirations of the wise leadership to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2021 with the advent of the golden jubilee on the establishment of the union, she added.

This year's report surveys the economies of 138 countries rated through 114 performance indexes and in 12 basic axes, including institutions, infrastructure, education, health, innovation, efficiency of the labour market and other topics. Evaluation is based on statistics and data from participating countries in the report in terms of opinion polls and surveys on executives and major investors in those countries, said the Wam report.

The UAE was ranked in the first 10 positions globally in three basic themes in the report. It is also among the best 20 countries globally in half of these axes. The UAE came in third place globally in the axis of efficient goods market, which is the sign of success of the diversification policy of the economy in the state, clarity of vision and strategic plans on the performance and efficiency of the business market, the report said.

It also came in fourth place globally in the infrastructure hub. This is an indication of activity in infrastructure projects across the country and its role in supporting the UAE economy in all areas and sectors, making it an attractive environment for investment and business at the regional and global level, it said.

At the level of indicators, the UAE was ranked among the 20 countries globally in 76 out of 114 indicators evaluated in this report. Regarding the institutions, the UAE was ranked first globally in the absence of the impact of crime and violence at work index, and second place globally in the people's trust in the leadership and lack of wasteful government spending indexes, it said.

The UAE was ranked third globally in the efficient government index. This reflects the success of the leadership strategy and steps taken toward achieving the high performance and efficiency in government work at the federal and local levels to ensure the happiness of citizens and residents and well-being on the territory of the state.

On infrastructure, the UAE has won the first place globally in the road quality index and second place globally in the airport infrastructure and means of air transport quality index. It also came in third globally in the seaport infrastructure quality and rate of mobile phone subscriptions per 100 users in indexes. The UAE was ranked in the fourth place in the global index of quality of infrastructure and fifth in the index of number of airline seats available for each million passengers a week.

This performance reflects the huge investments made by the state to develop and improve the infrastructure in terms of extending road network, building new airports and the expansion of existing airports, the development of seaports and plans to link the UAE rail network within the Union Railway project.

Lauding the development of the UAE market at various levels, the report reveals that the UAE has been ranked in many of the first places in each of goods market efficiency and the labour market efficiency indexes. The UAE was ranked first globally in the lack of impact of taxes on investment index. And the second place globally on the lack of the tax impact on the labour market and the ability of the state to attract international skills indexes. The UAE also came third place in the global index of lack of tariff barriers and the ability of the state to retain the World skills.

On the readiness of the technology sector, the maturity of the business sector, and higher education and training areas, the UAE has achieved the first position globally in the index of the government spending on "new technologies" and the second place globally in the index of provision of specialised trade zones (free zones), and the third place in the global index of foreign direct investment and technology transfer to the state. The state was also ranked fourth globally in the index of the Internet connection to the schools and fifth place in the global index of availability of scientists and engineers in the state, the Wam report said.