Abu Dhabi: The UAE is aiming to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to overall GDP from 11 per cent to 25 per cent by 2025, the country’s Economy Minister said on Tuesday.

Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the UAE Minister of Economy, said the UAE’s Vision 2021 National Agenda focuses on creating national policies that achieve sustainable growth.

“Manufacturing and the knowledge-based and innovative industrial sector currently account for around 11 per cent of total UAE GDP [Gross Domestic Product], with the aim of growing this to 20 per cent in 2020, and 25 per cent in 2025,” said Al Mansouri while speaking at an event to announce the details of Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

He said the new UAE investment law, which allows one hundred per cent ownership to foreigners, will boost to the manufacturing sector.

“This would help and aid the manufacturing sector and will set better agenda for the growth of economy,” he said. “We commissioned the investment law with the possibility of creating flexibility. There could be changes in laws and regulations.”

The investment law, which is in the final phase of being drafted, is likely to be issued this year.

According to the Ministry of Economy, certain criteria and conditions will be incorporated into the law to encourage new technology and environmentally-friendly projects in different sectors.

The country is focusing on diversification and becoming less reliant on oil revenues to sustain its economy in the face of oil prices that have plummetted over the year due to oversupply and weak demand.

From $115 in June last year, oil prices fell to less than $50 in January before recovering later on but that caused a major dent in the revenues of oil-producing countries.

Brent, the international benchmark for crude oil, was trading at $65.31 on Tuesday at 3.30pm UAE time.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are less likely to be affected because of their massive cash reserves but they will feel the heat if the slide continues for a prolonged period of time.

Meanwhile, the UAE on Tuesday announced plans to host the world’s first Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit in Abu Dhabi next year to boost to the manufacturing sector and help develop local Small and Medium Enterprises.

More than 1,000 government and industry leaders are expected to attend the event that is being hosted by UAE’s Ministry of Economy in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for the Future of Manufacturing.

This will be another major industry event to be held in the UAE after Dubai won the rights to host the World Expo in 2020.

Al Mansouri said the hosting of the summit in Abu Dhabi is testament to the country’s growing role in developing a global, knowledge-based economy that values human capital development and innovation.

“These attributes, set by the UAE’s Vision 2021, will position our country to become a leading manufacturing hub, investing in global value chains and enabling a sustainable future for many generations to come,” he said.

Li Yong, director-general of Unido, said the global economy is still facing challenges and has not recovered fully from the 2008 financial crisis.

“We are still facing big challenges. The 2008 financial crisis is close to ten years and the global economy has not still recovered. That is one of the challenges and one of the ways is to develop manufacturing industry to promote jobs.”

He said Abu Dhabi was chosen as a place to host the inaugural summit because of its emphasis on diversification and new thinking on industrialisation.

The summit will be held in Abu Dhabi every two years with the inaugural summit slated to be held in 2016 and the next one in 2018.