UAE a regional hub for more than 24% of the world’s 500 largest companies

sharjah — Business, trade activities and events have played a major role in the UAE leading regionally and globally in over 10 sub-indicators and being a regional hub for over 24 per cent of the world’s 500 largest firms, said Hamid Mohammed bin Salem, secretary-general of Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

In an exclusive interview with the Emirates News Agency (Wam), Bin Salem said that the activities carried out by the general secretariat of the federation have contributed to providing job opportunities, increasing exports and growing productive and service sectors in the national economy during the past years.

“For over 42 years, the general secretariat has pursued the policy of developing the federation to enable it to fulfill its ambitions and aspirations through a series of initiatives,” he said, stressing that the secretariat’s achievements in 2018 are in total worthy of appreciation.

The annual report of the general secretariat included a detailed presentation of its activities and achievements in developing various economic sectors such as trade, industry, tourism, real estate and capital markets. It also covered other topics that dealt with the federation’s support to member chambers, the government sector and the development of the investment climate in the country.

The report indicated that the number of meetings held by the general secretariat from the beginning of January until the end of December 2018 reached 17, during which the secretariat examined the challenges facing the private sector and commercial sectors.

On the role of women in entrepreneurship, statistics disclosed a tangible presence of women as businesswomen. The number of businesswomen registered with the Chamber increased to more than 25,000 in 2018 compared with 21,000 in 2017, and with more than 50,000 trade licences were issued to women entrepreneurs.

The number of Emirati businesswomen reached nearly 12,000, representing about 48 per cent of the number of businesswomen in the country. They have 28,000 commercial licences with investments of Dh30 billion. —