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28 March 2024

Khalifa’s leadership unifies efforts, builds modern UAE: Mohammed

Sheikh Mohammed chairs the Cabinet meeting (WAM)

Published
By Wam

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the people for the UAE becoming No.1 globally in government efficiency and achieving the largest jump in the global competitiveness ranking in this year's Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2013, issued by the International Institute of Management Development in Switzerland.

The UAE is now ranked eighth most competitive nation in the world.

Chairing the Federal Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace on Monday, Sheikh Mohammed said the achievement was a culmination of concerted efforts made by both the federal and local governments. He expressed his gratitude to federal and local government employees, urging them to make more efforts to further sharpen the UAE's competitiveness, which the UAE President termed as ''Trust at the hand of every Emirati and official.''

Addressing the cabinet members, the Vice President said, ''The UAE people deserve to celebrate and we are here to deliver achievements that make him proud of his nation.''

Sheikh Mohammed said the achievement brought back memories of how the late founding fathers, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, sat in the desert discussing the creation of the Union.

''The UAE was born amidst many challenges that our fathers faced. The state structure was built and the UAE takes the lead amongst the community of nations,'' he added.

Sheikh Mohammed said President Khalifa was maintaining the course of the founding fathers, taking care of every citizen and bringing development to every corner of the nation.

''Khalifa is our leader, who is mobilising concerted efforts, rallying energies, supporting initiatives and building the nation,'' Sheikh Mohammed said, adding, "We have placed our confidence in UAE citizens, and today we are reaping the fruits of excellence in many fields.''

He went on to say that employees have energies that should be released through continuous development and change.

He emphasised, "The UAE people will only rest with first place and Zayed and Rashid bequeathed us the love of being No. 1 . Whenever we climb a peak, we look forward for another one.''

In other business, the Cabinet approved Dh250 million for establishing a federal joint-integrated electronic network for providing high-speed IT services to government entities within a safe, advanced infrastructure. The new network will connect all federal government bodies, raise efficiency, reduce costs and finally aid smooth and speedy transformation into mobile government, which was recently launched by Sheikh Mohammed.

To that end, Sheikh Mohammed gave instructions for the setting up of a centre to run the network in one of the emirates. According to his instructions, the centre will be manned by Emirati professionals.

The cabinet also gave its approval to the national bio-security strategy, which envisages planned response and development of human resources. The strategy provides for an integrated, well-established bio-security system that builds capacities for response, containment, control and mitigation of biological hazards. The ultimate goal is to protect the local community from any potential epidemics and preserve national gains.

A federal draft law regulating establishment, management and operation of private health facilities was also passed during Monday's cabinet session. The bill aims to ensure delivery of high quality health services to patients and stimulate investment in the private health sector.

The cabinet also approved the preparation of a bill to establish a primary court at Dhaid in Sharjah, to bring judicial services closer to clients.

The cabinet approved the national qualification system, which will provide an integrated classification of qualifications in the general and higher education and vocational training education according to learning outcomes, as per ten levels starting from level 1 to PhD.

The joint classification system covers both education and training in the economic and industrial sectors. It is a national system that allows calculation and transfer of accumulated credits, giving learners the ability to smoothly shift between education and training paths. It also achieves mutual recognition of national qualifications at international level and aligns education and training programmes with job market needs. The system encourages a life-long learning approach and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

The cabinet gave a green light for the executive regulations of the federal anti-tobacco law, which defines standard specifications, and bans smoking in a vehicle if a child under 12 years is traveling in it. The law also bans tobacco advertisements and promotion.

The regulations also define terms for sale of tobacco and designates public places where smoking is either allowed or not. Requirements for licensing for cafes and grace period for tobacco farms and factories were also set by the legislation.

International cooperation agreements for boosting trade and economic relations with friendly countries were also passed.