The UAE is the only country from the Middle East that is featured in the top 20 rankings at the 18th position globally in the recent Digital Competitiveness Ranking, according to report released by IMD World Competitiveness Centre.

The UAE advanced seven positions in 2017 report compared to 2016, with the indicators for technology and scientific infrastructure included in the overall rankings, reported WAM, the Emirates official news agency.

The new Digital Competitiveness Ranking, however, introduces several new criteria to measure the ability of countries to adopt and explore digital technologies leading to a transformation in government practices, business models and the society in general.

The UAE ranked second in the world in three sub-indices: "Foreign skilled-labour-abundance", "Globalisation Trends", "Opportunities and Avoiding Risk". The country also ranked third in the "Global Cities".

Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and the Chairperson of the Board of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, praised the role of the State and local government institutions to achieve the country's goals and aspirations in regard to the development and improvement of technological infrastructure.

Supporting research and development in this field is vital to ensure the UAE has a leading global role in the field of communications and information technology, she added.

The IMD World Competitiveness Centre, a research group at IMD business school in Switzerland, has been publishing the rankings every year since 1989.