The UAE succeeded in attracting almost 40 percent of FDI in the Arab region in the year 2017, as per a top official of the Ministry of Economy. Ahmed Al Saleh, who is the undersecretary for foreign affairs at the Ministry of Economy, said that the UAE has been leading the way when it comes to FDI inflows in this region. He further said that the UAE got 40 percent of FDI inflows into the Arab and Western Asian nations and approximately 23.3 percent of FDIs went to the Middle East and North Africa regions in the year 2017, totaling to $130 billion of cumulative FDI inflows, which was 8.7 percent more than 2016.

A whooping $330bn worth of cheques were processed in the UAE in 2018

In the 11 months of 2018, almost 22.5 million cheques which were worth AED1.2 trillion about $330 billion were handled by the UAE Clearing Cheque System, as per the data released by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The cheques processed between January to November were almost 80 percent of the total cheque value processed in whole of 2017, which stood at AED1.5 trillion, as reported by the state news agency WAM. Seeing the monthly data, about 2.1 million cheques, which totaled to AED97.8 billion were processed during November as against AED118.2 billion handled in the same month last year.

Abu Dhabi offers a waiver on duties on industrial imports

The government recently announced that the industrial inputs that are imported into the emirate of Abu Dhabi will now be exempted from the customs duties as of January 15. The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) and the General Administration of Customs declared in a media briefing held in the capital about the tax waiver, which is a part of a stimulus package offered by ADDED to the industrial sector of Abu Dhabi. The list of exempted materials included the raw materials, equipment, machinery, and spare parts.

Dubai envisions expanding the Islamic economy to amount to 10% of GDP by 2021

The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) has the vision to enhance the Islamic economy’s contribution to the city’s GDP to almost 10 percent (it was 8.3 percent in 2018) by implementing and using more new and modern technology by the year 2021. This decision comes as a part of a five-year strategy announced by DIEDC in 2017 with an aim to expand three major sectors of the Islamic economy, which includes Sharia-compliant products and services. The approach will be focusing on enhancing knowledge and skills, industry standards, usage of digital technologies especially in the sectors of Islamic finance, halal products, and also Islamic lifestyle like fashion, styling, and tourism.

1 billionth passenger welcomed on the Dubai International Airport 

The billionth passenger recently flew from the Dubai International Airport, making it one of the world’s busiest airports. Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said that they had reached a new milestone are definitely headed towards a brighter future. It was a nine-year-old boy flying in from Orlando, Florida, who was chosen as the honorary billionth passenger. As a part of the celebration, the child and his family were welcomed by the Dubai International’s chairman.

Abu Dhabi has launched the world’s first digital courtroom on Sunday. Launched by the Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts (ADGM Courts), these courts will revolutionize the way in which court proceedings are carried out. The courts will let the plaintiffs and respondents upload their documents using the online portal of ADGM Courts.

The digital courts shall have the power and authority to handle disputes of civil and commercial nature between parties. Since it is a digital platform, the courtroom will be paperless and use the digital screen to display the relevant documents during the court hearing. The parties shall have access to all the information as both plaintiff and respondent shall upload the necessary document using the online portal of ADGM Courts before the court hearing. Any update or change shall be notified to the party in real time.

Ahmad Al Sayegh, Minister of State and Chairman of the ADGM Courts said “Technology and innovation have been disrupting every aspect of our lives and the judiciary sector is no exception. The best innovations to come out of this sector are those that allow us to creatively manage the growing demand for transparency, information, speed and effectiveness,”

Linda Fitz Alan, registrar and chief executive of ADGM Courts said “We can do the court hearing by video conferencing, not every party has to be present in the courtroom. In fact, everybody can be on a screen if that’s the most efficient way. The judge overseeing the case will be the only person who has to be present inside the digital courtroom during the hearing because we are a public court. For anyone else — the lawyer, plaintiff and respondent — if there’s no particular need for it, they can all be on screen in different places,”

She further added, “We have some rules that determine the steps that need to be taken before coming to court, but essentially once a case is registered it will be brought to the court within 14 days to a month after which the judge will begin managing the case.”