The Abu Dhabi Government has got directives from HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to strengthen its commitment towards the development of the private sector. It is therefore announced launching of nine new initiatives recently.
This step was taken as the government is celebrating six months of the three-year Abu Dhabi Development Accelerator Programme known as Ghadan 21.
Ghadan 21 is a unique accelerator programme started in the region to drive economic development, further innovation, and bring in more ease to do business so as to make Abu Dhabi’s economy more dynamic and internationally-integrated.
This three-year programme starting from 2019 to the year 2021 is granted an AED50 billion fund, which is being invested in four strategic pillars, that is, economic, knowledge, liveability and social.
After officially commencing at the start of 2019, the Abu Dhabi Government Private Sector forum, has hosted over 200 leaders from both public and private sectors.
Post the announcements, a major step was taken to make it easier to do business and invest in the Emirates by utilising the ‘Abu Dhabi Instant Licence’. This Instant Licence simplifies the process of applying to do any business or commercial activity and go ahead for company formation in UAE and Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Government Private Sector forum was joined by Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy National Security Adviser, who was overseeing the growth and execution of the new programmes as a Member of the Executive Council and also as the Chairman of the Executive Committee.
All licence applications are now handled and streamlined using a digital portal. Then they are consolidated into larger licencing categories, thus providing greater flexibility to businesses. This easy-to-use system is not only fast, but also effective and accessible to all.
The approvals are processed online and in a prompt manner and therefore, the licence holders in most sectors can begin conducting the business activities instantly.
The Abu Dhabi government is committed to aiding the private sector by offering a supportive business environment and developing new public-private partnership opportunities by making it easier and simpler to do business.
To enable accelerating the participation of the private sector in the economy, the Department of Economic Development has launched two new initiatives.
The first one is the industrial tariffs initiative which aims to improve Abu Dhabi’s competitiveness and encourage the development of the industrial sector. The new industrial tariffs would be decided by an established scoring mechanism, which will be based on the following three criteria – productivity, economic impact, and electric load.
DED’s second initiative is introducing new licences for the technology businesses. The Tech licences package offers 13 new business activities in the Tech vertical, placing Abu Dhabi as one of the global tech leaders.
Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), the Department of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank introduced the ‘SME Credit Guarantee’ scheme by organising a signing ceremony at the opening of the Forum. The SME Growth Loan is expected to provide better accessibility to financing opportunities for SMEs who are based in the UAE capital because of a guarantee offered by the government to all Abu Dhabi banks.
This scheme assures up to 75 percent of the loan value, which would be provided to the bank in any scenario of default, thus, enabling the banks to secure some level of lending to the market.
