Experts Call For Greater Transparency And Public-Private Partnerships To Ride Out Crisis

Greater transparency, increased public-private partnerships and coordinated action from all economic sectors are urgently needed to tackle the impact of the current global economic downturn and overcome the recessionary trends to work towards sustainable development, according to experts at a public policy forum in Dubai.

The forum, organised by the Dubai School of Government (DSG), included two panel discussions on ‘Public Policy in the Current Downturn: Constraints and Opportunities.’ Participants at the discussions included cabinet ministers, heads of private institutions and industry professionals from across the Arab world.
Dr Maher Al-Mujtahed, Secretary-General of the Syrian Cabinet of Ministers, Dr Zuhair M’dhaffar, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of the Civil Service and Administrative Development, Tunisia, and Julian Hawkins, Senior Partner at Deloitte, were among those that brought their perspectives to the table.
Opening the panel discussion, Nabil Alyousuf, Vice-Chairman, DSG Board of Trustees, pointed out all the oil and non-oil exporting Arab countries have been affected and public policy reforms as well as other relevant measures actions are being assessed with a view to upgrading the overall performance of the economy.“In light of these challenges, the way we allocate and leverage our resources to maximize our returns has become critical.”
Dr Maher Al–Mujtahed said: “Decentralisation, simplified procedures, transparency, prudent fiscal management, public-private partnerships, and the active role of NGOs are some of the key areas that will significantly contribute to economic development. The concept of good governance is not new, with most countries making progress in the Arab world. What we need is integration of our efforts.

“The world has faced so many challenges starting with the Great Depression. Each crisis has thrown complex challenges on the economic and political fronts. Challenges in HR have been pronounced while the implications on the financial markets have been enormous. This has increased the need to re-prioritise the role of governments, which may take a new dimension in the future.”

Al–Mujtahed continued : “The world today is a global village with closely integrated financial markets. Governments need to focus on good management and ensure the integrity of officials while implementing their public policies. This is the time we need to foster trust between governments and the public, and focus on transparency to take societies and economies out of the crisis.”

During the discussion, Dr Zuhair M’dhaffar pointed out the Tunisian government has reduced VAT as an incentive to increase exports and boost trade. The country has also increased its budget for the year by 20 per cent .
M’dhaffar said: “We cannot go back to a protectionist phase and be socialist in our outlook. There has to be a balance between globalization and ensuring the domestic industries are not hurt.”

Julian Hawkis said: “The governments have a key role to play in managing the crisis and there are decisions they need to take. Some of these include aligning policy changes with growth-oriented programmes and putting in place adequate checks and balances while implementing the hard decisions.”

Dr Tarik Yousef, Dean of Dubai School of Government, said: “We are grateful to the speakers for offering their insights and recommendations. The panel was unanimous in asserting government intervention to the extent required, but agreed that it has to be only regulatory and not restrictive in approach. The need for the development of human resources was stressed by all speakers, who agreed that greater human capital is an imperative need for creatively overcoming the current challenges.”

The half-day conference came as part of DSG’s ongoing efforts to bring authentic insights into the problems facing the Arab world. The panel discussions were designed to assess the constraints and opportunities for government action in fiscal management, economic planning and policy reforms.
For more details, visit www.dsg.ae or call 04-329 3290.

First ’Dubai Statistics Center Award’ Announced

Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) yesterday (Tuesday, May 05, 2009) announced the winners of the first ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ during a ceremony held at the Dubai Police Officers’ Club. Awards were given in four categories – Government Institutions; Private Organisations; the Media; and Households – which have demonstrated their support towards statistical work.

Arif Obaid Al Muhairi, Executive Director of DSC, said that the award comes within the Center’s strategic framework which aims to activate the role of statistical work and raise awareness in different categories, and added that the award creates an environment of healthy competition. He pointed out that all levels of society, including the government departments and organisations, private institutions, individuals, families and the media have a role to play in supporting statistical work and enhance its direct contribution to planning activities and decision making.

Al Muhairi explained that organisations and individuals can contribute to statistical work, by providing timely, accurate and comprehensive data to the Center when it conducts census and statistical surveys. He said that accurate statistics are also important when issuing statistical indicators about Dubai, which form the basis for future estimates and forecasts, and for planning and decision making. Al Muhairi also revealed that the award will be presented annually as the Center continues its focus on developing the assessment standards of the candidates.

Winners of category 1 – Government institutions supporting statistical work:Five government departments and organisations won the ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ for the category ‘Government institutions supporting statistical work’ for the year 2008, these include: Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD), Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai Municipality, Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities (DICD) and Dubai eGovernment.

Director of DNRD, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri received the award on behalf of DNRD, which was recognised for its continuous focus on providing statistical data, despite the complexity of Dubai’s demographic profile. DNRD, whose statistics are regularly used by planners, decision makers and strategic committees, is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for the Department of Economic Development (DED) was received by Khalid Al Kassim, Deputy Director General for Planning and Development at DED. The department was recognised for its support of statistical work as it is the first department to provide its statistics for electronic upload, which gave DSC access to latest statistical frameworks that are used as a basis for conducting economic surveys in the emirate and for the calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The department is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for Dubai Municipality was received by H.E. Eng. Issa Al Hajj Al Midor, Assistant General Manager, General Project Affairs at Dubai Municipality. Dubai Municipality is regarded as the pioneering government department to support statistical work in the emirate as it hosted DSC when it was set up and has continuously supported the Center ever since. Dubai Municipality is also an active member of the Statistical Coordination Committee in Dubai.

The award for the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities was received by H.E. Saeed Khamis Al Marhoumi, Assistant Director General of Technical Support at DICD. The department was honoured for its initiatives in collaborating with non-profit organisations and providing statistical data for these partner agencies of long standing. DICD provided data on financial resources quickly and accurately; the information was to be used in a specialised survey as part of the calculation of the GDP.

Dubai eGovernment was also a recipient, with Matar Saeed Al Humairi, Head of Application Management Unit, Government Information Resources Planning Department, receiving the award. Dubai eGovernment was recognized for its exceptional support in providing the technical infrastructure for electronic statistical linking. It was particularly cited for enabling departments and organisations of the Dubai Government such as the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) to participate at GITEX 2008. DSC’s portal (www.dsc.gov.ae) was launched during the event by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Dubai eGovernment’s activities during GITEX helped the government save on related expenditures.

Winners of category 2 – Private institutions supporting statistical work: Majid Al Futtaim Group, Etisalat and Emaar Properties received the ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ under the category “Private institutions supporting statistical work.” The cooperation of the three organisations in the Center’s 2008 economic surveys was highly commended, as they provided their required data in an accurate and comprehensive manner in record time. The award was received by Obeid Mohammed Al Shared, Financial Director, Etisalat; Mohammed Malek, Vice President, Human Resources, Majid Al Futtaim Group; and Essam Galadari, CEO of Emaar Properties. It is worth noting that these surveys provide basic data that are included as inputs for assessing the GDP of the emirate and considered important economic indicators.

Winners of category 3 – Households supporting statistical work: ‘Dubai Statistics Center Award’ for “Households Supporting Statistical Work” is intended to motivate families and individuals to fully cooperate with the Center and respond quickly to censuses and statistical surveys that require accurate and comprehensive data on families. The two households that won the award were those of Mr. Rashed Masoud and Mr. Khalid Hussein Harb.

Winners of category 4 – Media supporting statistical work:Al Bayan Newspaper was chosen as the most supportive of statistical work in Dubai, winning under the category ‘Media supporting statistical work’. The award was received by Hamad Salmeen, Head of Local Affairs at Al Bayan. The TV channel and radio station of Noor Dubai was named the most exclusive and supportive channel/radio. The event honoured distinguished journalists who have achieved their goals with regard to statistical works in accordance with the highest levels of professionalism.

During the ceremony, Al Muhairi also gave tribute to exclusive suppliers in line with the Center’s efforts to build partnerships and promote mutual interests between them. The Center’s outstanding employees for 2008 were also recognized and commended for their efforts and achievements.

Dubai Customs Receives A Delegation Representing Federal And Local Government Departments And Organizations

Dubai – Dubai Customs received 19th March 2009 a government delegation comprising of representatives from a number of Federal and Local organizations and departments including the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The visit, which comes as part of inter-government agencies coordination and exchange of expertise, aimed at learning about customs processes and procedures applicable to the importation of agricultural products, foodstuffs and pesticides as well as the electronic declaration clearance system (Mirsal 2).

The delegation was received by Mohammed Matter Al Mari, Executive Director of Cargo Operations Division, Abbas Makki, External Relations Director, Mohammed Al Muaini, Senior Manager of Customs Tariff and Origin and a number of senior staff from Tariff and Declarations Departments.

While welcoming the delegation, Al Mari underlined Dubai Customs` keenness to cooperate and liaise with all government organizations for the benefit of UAE and its citizens as well as different public and private institutions.

“Dubai Customs puts its cumulative expertise and advanced business systems at the disposal of any government agency whenever needed. Dubai Customs follows the latest locally and internationally recognized systems and processes, which accelerate customs clearing formalities without disturbing accurate inspection operations that aim at maintaining the country’s social and economic security”, Al Mari said.

“Dubai Customs is a regulatory agency that implements Federal and Local decisions in respect of prohibiting and restricting imported goods, which require a procedure. The Prohibition and restriction related database is consistently updated in line with the Federal decisions and local ordnances once they are received”, he added.

The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) coordinated the visit where the visiting team included representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Water, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, Dubai Central Laboratory, Food Control Laboratory at Sharjah Municipality and Foods Control Laboratory at Fujairah Municipality.

The visiting delegation was briefed by Customs Tariff Section on the current goods prohibition and restriction system and how agricultural products, foodstuffs and pesticides are processed in accordance with the unified tariff table.

The prohibition and restriction system is a fast and accurate module contributing to provide economic and social security requirements. It explains reasons for prohibition, restriction or the procedure required including the legal title thereof.

The system provides as well browsing methods, which facilitate checking all data entered by the declarant in terms of the HS Code, product classification, etc.

The system handles all types of pesticides and disinfectants with a great importance due to their effect upon public health and environment. Such products are either restricted or requiring a procedure.

Calling for organizing similar visits to Dubai Customs by Municipalities Central Laboratories and other government organizations, Engineer Abdullah Al Amiry, representative of Ministry of Environment and Water said: “This Federal Team seeks to produce an integrated system to detect pesticides remains within imported foodstuffs and those existing in the local market and ensure that they are within the international standards in a way protecting the consumers. Our visit comes within such context to learn about Dubai Customs systems and business programmes and benefiting from them in producing the required mechanism”.

During the visit, expansive discussion took place on the procedures for testing samples of foodstuffs when entering customs borders and customs role in prohibiting them if not matching to the specifications based on the testing results provided by the Municipality offices located thereat.

Dubai Customs stated that the prohibition or restriction of agricultural pesticides and disinfectants depend upon the nature of the imported product and take place in collaboration with the competent authorities like the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Municipality.

Touring the Declarations department at the end of the visit, the delegation learned about the current service delivery standards and expressed their gratitude to Dubai Customs for the welcoming reception, preparing the visit and cooperation in providing the necessary information helpful for the federal team to complete its mission.