UAE Digital Economy Council Advances Strategic Initiatives with Blockchain Technology

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, the Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, reiterated the importance of maintaining progress to ensure the sustainability of the digital economy's growth. This aligns with the UAE’s strategic objectives in the digital economy field, which emphasizes the development of a cutting-edge digital economy combining digital skills and technology. This approach aims to establish a sustainable and prosperous economic model based on future solutions, and supports the objective of doubling the digital economy's contribution to the non-oil gross domestic product over the next ten years.

This was discussed during the meeting of the UAE Digital Economy Council held at the Ministry of Economy in Dubai, which was chaired by Omar Sultan Al Olama, and included members of the council.

Al Olama said that building on the results achieved by the UAE in various economic fields requires intensifying efforts to achieve the goals of the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, which focuses on enhancing the contribution of this sector, in consolidating the future economic model adopted by the UAE, which is based on a diverse system of New and emerging economic sectors supported by technological and digital solutions.

Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, Director-General of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), praised the outcomes of the Council, stating, “The performance of the digital economy in the UAE is characterized by rapid development, built upon a strong infrastructure, digital capabilities, and national talents that lead the digital transformation in the government sector. This aligns with the directives of our leadership and their vision, which revolves around establishing the most pioneering and superior system. At the Authority, and in our role as enablers of digital transformation, we collaborate with our partners in both the government and private sectors to ensure the highest level of integration and interconnection of solutions, systems, and databases. This is done in accordance with laws, regulations, and the government's approach, with the aim of fostering investment attraction and talent acquisition in the field of the digital economy”.

The Council showcased the latest developments in strategic initiatives aimed at implementing the objectives of the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, in the areas of digital infrastructure and blockchain, e-commerce, FinTech, investment in the digital economy sector, attracting and developing digital skills and supporting SMEs.

The Council reviewed the most recent statistics and figures concerning the digital economy in the UAE, ongoing work on the annual report to assess the country's digital economy in collaboration with the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, the latest developments in the UAE's digital infrastructure, and the most recent statistics and performance indicators for the digital wallet and UAE Pass over the past three months. During this period, there were over 6 million registrations and more than 15 thousand services provided through UAE Pass.

During the meeting, TDRA showcased the indicators of the use of blockchain technology in the digital wallet. The Authority further highlighted that 9 new banks, 6 exchange companies, and 3 insurance companies were included in the wallet. Additionally, TDRA presented an overview of the government services status policy and discussed the percentage of distribution of data centers and cloud computing and their spread in the UAE and the region.

The meeting also discussed the latest indicators of Internet network and the 5G network performance and coverage in the UAE, which has increased exponentially over the course of a year, in addition to the adoption rate of the sixth version of the Internet Protocol, which reached 50%, while the coverage rate of telephone networks reached 100%. This contributed to the UAE being ranked first in the region in the volume of Internet exchange.

The meeting discussed the latest developments in the law on trade through modern technology, the committee’s efforts to develop a methodology for measuring the digital economy, the time plan for adopting it, and developments in the work of the Investment Stimulation Committee, which held three meetings to follow up on work on an integrated plan for its strategic initiatives.