Dubai: Economic Zones World flagship, Jafza will collaborate with the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) and Dubai Statistics Centre to conduct a World Bank Enterprise Level Survey (ELS), Jafza said in a press release on Saturday.
The ELS is widely considered to be the world's most comprehensive company-level research tool to analyse the micro-economics of emerging markets and developing economies.
Jafza will assist and cooperate with DEC on research and compiling data related to its 6,400 strong client base that includes 150 Fortune 500 companies. It will also coordinate with other Dubai free zones to facilitate the collection of trade data from the respective free zones and their companies.
Contributions
Playing a lead role in the process, Jafza recently held a seminar to introduce the Enterprise Level Survey to other free zones across Dubai urging them to contribute to the study.
Officials from Dubai free zones were given comprehensive information on the proposed survey including its scope, objective, requirements, methodology and timeframe. Economic Zones World, through Jafza will host further workshops in the coming months.
The seminar was attended by all Dubai-based free zones including Dafza, DFC, DIFC, DMCC, DMC, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai World Central Zones and Tecom.
The Enterprise Level Survey, spearheaded by DEC in conjunction with the World Bank, is expected to help DEC identify and assess contributions made by the various free zones and free zone based companies in Dubai. DEC's comprehensive study of the current export structures and export related data in the emirate will contribute to the development and implementation of new policies.
The survey will provide comprehensive data, at a firm level, and would allow for the comparison of Dubai to regional competitors such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the European Union.
"Jafza is home to thousands of businesses and it is imperative to provide accurate and relevant information on their trade figures and trends to the Government," Ebrahim Al Janahi, Chief Commercial Officer of Jafza, said in a statement.
"We will coordinate with other free zones to facilitate the gathering of such data by DEC. Statistical indices and indicators are among the most important tools that drive legislation and economic planning. We are extending our full support to DEC and we are confident that the Council will devise relevant strategies and implement the most appropriate programs to the advantage of businesses based here, for the overall development of Dubai," he added.
Jafza is widely considered the region's most important trading and redistribution hub and one of the main economic drivers of the nation. Jafza supported Dubai's overall non-oil trade with an impressive contribution of $88.65 billion (Dh325.5 billion) in 2008, with $49.7 billion in imports and $38.9 billion in exports, according to the Statistics Department of Dubai World.
The Enterprise-level Survey is a standardised research tool used by the World Bank and other leading development business research institutions. It has already been implemented in over 100 economies. Enterprise Surveys collect information about the business environment, how it is perceived by individual firms, how it changes over time, and about the various constraints to firm performance and growth.
