Introduction

UAE United Arab Emirates as we call it has managed to become the regional trading hub of
the middle-east along with being an enormously growing business capital. The country is
also referred to as the wealthiest in the Region with the GDP per capital income of around
$49500 (forecast 2011). The credit for much of the development goes to the oil and gas
reserves of the country because the UAE has the third largest reserves of the OPEC. Even
though the UAE is fairly dependent on oil as it comprises of 20% of the international GDP,
yet the diversification measures are constantly taken to shift the economy away from being
highly dependent on the Oil prices. This diversified economy of The UAE is definitely a
success and a role model for the all the other economies in the GCC to follow. The vision of
UAE is to become the best country in the world by 2021. (GCC)

UAE VISION 2021

The vision of UAE is to be among the best countries on the world by 2021. They
aspire to be united in knowledge, prosperity, destiny and responsibility. The vision
2021 portrays some of the responsibilities of the UAE government.

UAE Government Strategy

UAE government strategy highlights the main priorities of the government in the
coming two years covering the period of 2011-2013. The strategy will act as a
benchmark for federal entities to develop and their strategic plans. The strategy lays
the foundation for the vision of 2021.

The strategy is basically divided in to 7 general principles

1. Enhance the role of national entities and in carrying out operative regulations
and cohesive policies by successful planning and implementation.
2. Enhance coordination and cooperation among National entities and local
government.
3. Focus totally on delivering high class, customer oriented and integrated
government services.
4. Spend in human resource competences and create and polish leaders.
5. Encourage efficient resource management within the national entities and
leverage the dynamic partnerships.
6. Implement a culture of brilliance through strategic thinking, uninterrupted
performance improvement and excellent results
7. Encourage transparency and enhance the accountability mechanisms of the
government throughout the federal entities.

Environment has been rated as a potential component of The UAE development

strategy, UAE has never overlooked the environment factor and has always regarded
environment protection as a major goal of its sustainable development strategy. The
government has addressed harsh desertification and developed water resources for
increasing greenery.

Agricultural Economy

Agriculture has also been addressed thoroughly by the government of UAE, and the
government has been successful in achieving goals despite the problem of scarcity
and desertification. The main goal for the development and growth of agriculture
sector has been the provision of food to the local economy. This is because the
government regards it as being an element of national security. The industrial sector
has also boomed a lot on the 21st century with investment in this sector amounting
to DH101.12 billion in 2010 (IMF). Around 4960 industries have been established and
the total number of workers employed has increased dramatically. This clearly
portrays the vision of federal and local government to modify and develop the
Industrial sector.

Tourist Economy

The tourism sector has also improved tremendously over the years. It was the record
high in 2010 with the number of tourists reaching over 10 million. What majorly
contributed to the tourism sector has been the strategic location and domestic flow
of local and foreign investments in the sector. The investment size associated with
tourism and infrastructure has been 47 billion Dh on average over the last 10 years.
Presently the Dubai Airport is ranked as the fourth best Airport of the world.
Conferring to the Travel and tourism competitiveness report of 2011 published by
the world economic forum (IMF), the UAE was ranked 30 among the lot of 139
countries and was ranked first in the middle -east as the most progressive country in
tourism and travel with the score of 4.78.

Financial Economy

The financial services sector (UAE) has also witnessed rapid growth in the past few
years. An important role was played by the commercial and specialized banks of the
UAE in sponsoring economic activity and trade in the country. Fifty one banks are
currently operating in the country including 23 national banks. Financial markets
have also contributed heavily in mobilization of domestic savings; the Abu Dhabi
securities market and the Dubai financial market are figured as the main financial
markets of the country. Dubai International financial market was also established to
become the free zone for the most important financial centers in North Africa and
the Middle-East. The government also invested its accumulated surpluses in
international institutions such as the Abu Dhabi investment authority, and this
contributed heavily to the country’s domestic wealth (Suwaidi).
E-Government in the UAE
The federal egovernment project started in the UAE in the year 2001 when the
ministry of finance carried out the edirham. It was the first eservice that helped the
electronic payment for accessing the federal government services (Interact).Since
then, many of the federal and local level entities have launched eservices that have
proven to be time efficient and cost efficient and the government is also
experiencing reduced operational costs and increased efficiency In offering the
services.

The egovernment strategy was then setup in 2003. IBM helped to conduct an
evaluation study for the development of the executive plan. The ministry of finance
started an operational plan for e-government in 2004. The memorandum of
understanding was signed between Etisalat and the government to provide
infrastructure for e-government in March 2005. Then finally in june 2008 the TRA
passed a resolution to develop a plan for IT in the federal government.

E-COMMERCE in the UAE

The E-Commerce is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the E-
commerce Law and the services of certification in the UAE. It promotes adherence to
the regulations and laws which enables safe and secure E-commerce transactions.
The ultimate mission and target of E-commerce department is to promote economic
development and technological advancement and innovation within the defined
limits of a just e-commerce regulatory regime totally in line with the global standards
(Aya). It also aims to establish a regulatory and licensing regime that will be
responsible for providing optimal development and encourage innovation, growth,
competition and massive investment in the UAE ICT and the ecommerce sector, via
implementation of the best global practices and standards while responding to the
market needs and local consumers.

THREATS TO THE UAE ECONOMY

UAE economy is not perfect as yet and is still not the number one economy of
middle-east. It has to strive hard in order to be more competitive in the region. The
economy of UAE is facing heavy competition from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Saudi
Arabia has a lot of oil reserves and many seaports for international trade. The
competition is intense. UAE has just managed to pass both Saudi Arabia and Egypt in
the UAE (Abdul Basit) but it is still not enough to get a comprehensive lead in the
economic standing of the region. Some of the recent threats to the UAE economy
has include the recent Euro Crisis in Europe. IMF has issued a warning to the UAE
that it could be hit by the worsening situation in Europe after the recent news of
Spain seeking a 100 billion euros bail out. Other threats to the UAE economy include
the heavy government subsidies by the government in the UAE and its agriculture
sector. The obsolete tax system is ranked as a potential threat as well because it is
very different from the tax system around the world. Job cuts in the Expanding UAE
economy have also been listed as a potential threat to the economy as a whole
(Bundhun). Diminishing Oil reserves in Dubai is also an issue that needs to be taken
into account. Although UAE has been pretty successful in shifting from oil to nonoil
exports, yet the focus should be on decreasing the oil exports further to create a
provision for diminishing oil reserves.

The emerging economic world powers in the world include China, India, Turkey,
Russia, Brazil to name a few. UAE is a trading partner to china and the importance of
trading partners is every high because china is also among the fastest growing
emerging economies today. USA is going through a a bad patch right now because
of its deteriorating economic conditions, but it is a strategic partner of UAE in trade
and infrastructure. American goods and services discover a ready market here
provided they bring a technological superiority or a new feature. Along with that US
is also among the biggest competitor of UAE because of its high quality products
with latest technology and after sales service. The competition is intensely high and
UAE will have to focus on the quality and after sales service to compete effectively in
the future (Interact).

CONCLUSION
Looking at all the recent developments and the achievements of UAE, it is true to say
that UAE has been acting like a champion in the past decade with constant
innovations and increased international trade. The introduction of E government and
E commerce has helped the domestic economy lot in everyday life (Aya). The main
focus of this system by UAE was to accelerate continuous in the economy. The
International standing OF UAE has also improved a lot and it is now ranked 27th in
the world and third in the UAE (Jones) which is no less than a milestone for them. The
dependency on oil exports has increased and non-oil exports now comprise of more
than 70% of the total exports, Dubai being the highest contributor in the non-oil
exports sector. This will also prove to be an Asset for UAE in the times of oil crisis.
The manufacturing sector of the economy is also booming and is now ranked as the
number one manufacturing sector in the UAE. With all these milestones and
achievements it is not hard to believe that UAE will be among the best economies of
the world till 2021.