Dubai has the most competitive economy in the Middle East and ranks higher for its competitiveness than Japan, Germany, France or New Zealand, according to a new study released on Sunday.
The emirate ranked 16th out of 65 economies surveyed in the National Competitiveness Report 2009, published by the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies of the National University of Seoul, in South Korea.
The study was commissioned by the Dubai Competitiveness Council, an arm of the Dubai Economic Council, the Khaleej Times reported.
The Korean institute has published the National Competitiveness Report annually since 2001, but this the first time that it has included Dubai.
The US ranked No. 1 in this year’s study, followed respectively by the Netherlands and Denmark. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s largest economy, placed 48th , while Oman ranked 42nd and Kuwait, 30th.
Dubai’s strengths include its achievements in health and environment, intellectual property rights, corporate governance, government business strategy, and attracting foreign direct investment. Areas where it needs to show improvement include ethics and transparency, education and the quality of its work force, the study noted.
“This is one of the first steps towards our efforts in locating Dubai’s position in the global markets,” said Adel Al Falasi, Executive Director of the Dubai Competitiveness Council.
“The Dubai Competitiveness Council is trying to identify specific models and set of indexes for assessing competitiveness of cities and regions, which will enable us to target and address the obstacles to Dubai’s global competitiveness [on a] timely [basis] as global markets evolve,” Al Falasi said.
The authors of the competitiveness study Professors Dong-sung and Hwy-Chang Moon, both from the National University of Seoul said that Dubai seems focused on rectifying and improving some of the weaknesses they cited in their report.
The Dubai government is taking steps to support the development of a more mature and stable economy, they added, presenting the findings of their study at a news conference.
