Minister: ‘UAE a model from the region to the region’

On the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that is being held in Morocco’s resort city of Marrakech, UAE Cabinet Affairs Minister Mohammad Al Gergawi told Al Arabiya News that the Gulf country could serve as a “model from the region to the region.”

Al Gergawi said the UAE government was invited to the fifth edition of the GES in Morocco to “speak about its model and Dubai’s model as a hub for entrepreneurship.”

“We came here to share our humble experience with other governments – I think there are more than 50 governments participating here – to tell them how we did it, why we did it and the results,” Gergawi said.

The UAE minister said 82 percent of fresh Arab graduates look at the UAE as a place to work.

“Eighty-two percent: this is [according to] an international study. Number one is the UAE, ahead of the United States and ahead of France. This is an experience, a model from the region to the region,” Gergawi said.

“The UAE is a model from the region to the region,” he added.

“The United States tried to impose a model in Iraq for example. It invaded Iraq to build a model and it failed miserably. It created a huge sectarian issue in the region. The UAE is a model from the region to the region, a model [where] people see the results and see tolerance in society.”

“We have almost 200 nationalities; we have all religions of the world; people are living in peace and harmony without a single issue,” he added.

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Empowering women

The minister also highlighted how the empowerment of women played a role in the success of the UAE model. He said the UAE has placed the issue at the center of its national development strategy since the early years of its formation.

“When the country was started in 1975, we had only five female graduates. Today we have the highest female enrollment in the world from high school to university; 55 percent of the workforce in the federal government is female; 75 percent of university graduates are female,” he said.

“In the UAE we see our economy growing because we utilize the whole society, the whole society has been working. They are high achievers, they are very much innovators, entrepreneurs – men and women. Our leaders [UAE President] Sheikh Khalifa [bin Zayed Al Nahyan] and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed set the whole national agenda based on empowering the whole nation,” the minister added.

The empowerment of women has been a major focus of the 2014 GES. Young female entrepreneurs around the world have been invited to share their stories with aspiring others.

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