The UAE's 50th anniversary is fast approaching, marking the Golden Jubilee. On this occasion, the country is ready to celebrate its achievements and congratulate those who made them possible, as well as all future generations preparing to maintain progress over the next five decades.
On Sunday, September 5, a national conference was held at which the UAE announced the first set of 50 new projects and initiatives that will be unveiled later this month.
The “Projects of the 50” is a series of development and economic projects that will be rolled out throughout September. They aim to accelerate the development of the UAE, establish it as a comprehensive hub across all sectors, and attract talent and investors from around the world.
Several projects in the fields of the economy, entrepreneurship, the digital economy, space, and advanced technologies were already revealed on Sunday.
One of the major announcements was the charter of 10 principles called the “Principles of the 50”:
- Strengthening the union
- Building the world's best and most dynamic economy
- The ultimate goal of policy is to serve the economy, while the ultimate goal of the economy is to provide the best life for the people of the UAE.
- Developing education and attracting talent are key to maintaining the UAE's excellence
- Good neighborliness is the foundation of stability
- The UAE is a unified economic, tourism, and industrial destination
- The UAE's digital, technical, and scientific excellence will define its development and economic frontiers
- The UAE's system of fundamental values must remain based on openness and tolerance, the protection of rights, the rule of justice, and the law
- A political disagreement with a country must not justify failing to provide assistance to that country in the event of a disaster, emergency, or crisis
- Calling for peace, harmony, negotiations, and dialogue to resolve all disputes is the foundation of the UAE's foreign policy
VISAS
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, announced the launch of a new type of visa, the 'green visa', for entrepreneurs, investors, highly skilled individuals, top students, and graduates. Holders of this new visa will be able to sponsor themselves. The major new feature is the possibility of sponsoring children up to the age of 25 (instead of 18 previously), as well as a grace period of 90-180 days to remain in the country after their visa is canceled due to job loss or retirement. This visa also allows holders to sponsor their parents. The full criteria, including how and when the visa will become available, have not yet been revealed. Another visa called the Freelancer visa has also been launched. This visa is intended for freelancers based in the UAE and abroad who work in specialized fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital currencies. Regarding the Golden visa, CEOs, managers, and specialists in science, engineering, healthcare, education, and technology are now eligible. Other changes to take into account:- Extension of business travel permits from three months to six months
- Sponsorship of parents under the family members' visa
- One-year residence extension for humanitarian cases
EASIER RESIDENCE LAWS
Widows and divorced women will soon be able to remain in the UAE longer without visa restrictions. Instead of a 30-day grace period, they will be able to stay in the country for an entire year.INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
New initiatives aimed at supporting the growth of the local industrial sector were unveiled by Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology. The recently launched 5Bn project will be allocated a budget of AED 5 billion to support UAE projects in priority sectors. It is part of the AED 30 billion allocation announced in April 2021 by Emirates Development Bank to help accelerate industrial development, adopt advanced technologies, and support entrepreneurship and innovation by 2025. The Emirati government has also launched “Tech Drive”, an AED 5 billion program aimed at supporting the adoption of advanced technologies in the industrial sector.NEW DATA LAW: "data law"
The UAE is also about to unveil a new data law that will guarantee the privacy of individuals and international companies, Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, revealed. This new law gives individuals the freedom to control how their personal information is used, stored, and shared, in a way that supports the protection of the privacy of individuals and institutions in the country. Al Olama also announced that the country was stepping up efforts to attract more coders. “The first step was to announce 100,000 visas for programmers and coders,” he said. He announced the "100 Programmers a Day" project, which is expected to add 3,000 programmers per month to the national economy and reach 100,000 programmers within 12 months. The country is specifically seeking to increase the number of women in the sector, with the goal of “having the largest number of female coders per capita in the world.”ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIPS
The agreements are part of the UAE's global economic partnership strategy, which aims to double the size of the national economy from AED 1,400 billion to AED 3,000 billion over the next 10 years. The country has also launched three initiatives to boost foreign direct investment:- The 10×10 program aims to achieve an annual 10% increase in the country's exports to 10 key markets: China, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Poland, Luxembourg, Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.
- A new electronic portal, – invest.ae – has been launched to serve as an umbrella for all local investment-related entities and 14 state economic entities, and will showcase all investment opportunities across the UAE. The portal will also provide information about the local investment environment, as well as business and bank account-opening services. It will also highlight entrepreneurial success stories. This electronic platform is designed to showcase the UAE to major international companies and unicorn companies (billion-dollar companies) and encourage the world's leading sovereign wealth funds to channel investments into the country. It will also facilitate the identification of investors unable to invest in their own countries, open communication with them, and encourage the transfer of their investments to the UAE.
- The UAE will host the Emirates Investment Summit to connect investment funds with the public and private sectors in order to attract AED 550 billion over the next nine years. The summit is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.
