UAE announces ten-year plan to double industrial output, bolster post-COVID economy

UAE announces ten-year plan to double industrial output, bolster post-COVID economy

The United Arab Emirates will implement a ten-year plan to more than double the country's industrial output and help to bolster its economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced Monday.

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Operation 300bn outlines a strategy to increase the industrial sector's contribution to the UAE's GDP from its current $36 billion (AED133 billion) to $82 billion (AED300 billion) by 2031 - reducing reliance on imports, according to the Dubai Media Office.

The country's leaders also aim to increase spending on Research and Development in the industrial sector from $6bn (AED 21 billion - 1.3 percent of GDP), to $16 billion (AED 57 billion - 2 percent of GDP) by 2031.

The plan focuses on four main objectives. The first involves offering financing facilities to support 13,500 industrial small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and develop the UAE's industrial infrastructure.

The second objective involves improving the quality standards of UAE-made goods with the aim of increasing the export market's value as well as boosting demand domestically, under the slogan 'Make it in the Emirates'. Operation 300bn's third objective focuses on developing high-tech industry, and the fourth objective aims to establish the country as