On the second day of the Cabinet’s extraordinary meeting at Jabal Al Dhanna in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, gave directives for activating organisational and monitoring roles of the federal government institutions, besides enhancement of coordination between federal institutions and local authorities.
The meeting discussed the strategic plans of a number of agencies which included Shaikh Zayed Housing Programme, Emirates Post Holding Group, Emirates Real Estate Corporation (EREC) Emirates Transport, General Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Customs Authority and National Transport Authority.
Shaikh Mohammed underlined the prime role of federal institutions in the areas of organisation and control, and reiterated his call to enhance this role on a par with global standards in order to achieve competitiveness and development of legislative and organisational infrastructure in the country. The prime minister indicated that in the next phase of the implementation of the federal strategy, the role of various authorities and entities will be revised and their efforts will be examined in preparation for redistributing the responsibilities to suit the strategic plan of governance.
Shaikh Mohammed reiterated the importance of enhancing the self sustenance of federal government by way of strengthening its financial resources. He also underscored the role played by the recently set up Emirates Investment Authority (EIA) in coordinating and diversifying government investments.
The |functioning |of |the federal institutions and corporations will be examined in order to bring them |under |the |umbrella of the Emirates Investment Authority. Shaikh Mohammed also reminded the various federal government institutions to give enough attention to the human resources as they constitute the most important capital in any institution. He stressed the need for enhancing their capabilities and competitiveness through continuous provision of incentives and training.
The cabinet discussed the strategic plan of the Shaikh Zayed Housing Programme considering it a prime institution giving housing security for a large section of citizens in the country. The discussions highlighted the need for evolving long-term and realistic solutions to face the challenges ahead in this regard as the number of applications submitted to the programme is constantly on the increase every year.
The extraordinary meeting of the cabinet is the third of its kind held to discuss UAE’s federal strategy of governance. The previous two meetings were also held in venues far from the traditional meeting places of the cabinet, creating a new precedence by Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid in an effort to move out of the conventional environment of thinking and deliberations.
