DED to boost ties with business community

DUBAI / WAM

Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports; President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority; Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group, the Department of Economic Development (DED), Government of Dubai, launched a new initiative—the Business Community Engagement (BCE) to deepen and strengthen DED’s relationship with the business community.
The initiative follows a detailed study involving comprehensive surveys of business groups and business councils in Dubai, an analysis of the current landscape; gaps and opportunities of DED-Private Sector relationships. 150 Business Groups, Trade Associations and Business Councils were covered, and more than 95 of them provided inputs to the study over seven months.
Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of DED, said: “The DED has always engaged the business community, but now with the Business Community Engagement initiative we have a strategy and a plan to systematically collaborate with the private sector, through the Representative Entities (Res). The REs play a critical role in economic development not only by being a voice of the industry and business sector they represent, but more importantly, they provide ideas and suggestions to the government for a better future.”
Al Qamzi called upon more Dubai-based enterprises to join their respective business groups or industry associations and urge business groups to formalise and upgrade their capacity to serve their members.
Mohammed Shael, CEO, Business Development and Strategy Sector, DED said: “Our BCE initiative aims to tap transformational ideas from the private sector and co-develop them into workable initiatives. There is tremendous scope for path-breaking synergies and potential in further collaboration between DED and business groups. Evidence shows that only through continuous conversations and collaborations with the Representative Entities can we have more effective solutions and initiatives to advance economic growth.”