Dubai: The UAE for the first time ranked number one globally for the government’s ability to stimulate innovation in economy sector. It also ranked first in terms of trust in government, achieving 90 per cent, two points more than the year before and also came first in trust barometer in the strength of economy (85 per cent), moving up three points.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said: “The UAE has a different and unique model of development where all sectors are driven and operated under one vision with clear national priorities.” He said this achievement would boost the mutual trust between the government and all sectors of the society.
“The new thing in this report is that the government’s efforts in encouraging innovation that began just last year was crowned with declaring 2015 the year of innovation by Shaikh Khalifa, which means that these efforts have begun to bear fruit, reaffirming the correctness and strength of our approaches,” he said.
“We are not concerned about international reports themselves as we are concerned to get neutral indicators from foreign institutions about our march, which show that we are moving on the right path, to achieve well-being and happiness for our people and increased confidence in us, year after year,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
He added that the UAE government “will continue in development. and will remain close to the people.”
Trust in the country’s NGOs rose from 76 per cent to 81 per cent, and trust in the media increased from 70 per cent to 79 per cent. Trust in the UAE government increased from 88 per cent to 90 per cent, and trust in business rose from 82 to 85 per cent. Trust in local and federal governments remained high in the UAE, with 90 per cent trust in local departments and 89 per cent trust in the federal government.
Last year, the UAE and China were tied for the first place, both scoring 79 per cent.
The report pointed out that 2015 has recorded an all-time low of six countries in the ‘truster’ category. In 2014, the total number of ‘truster’ countries stood at eight.
The United States, Brazil, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, France and Germany are among the countries that were categorised as ‘neutral’, while the ‘distrusters’ category included Italy, United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Hong Kong, Ireland and Russia.
The trust index measures the general population’s trust in a country’s government, business, media and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The public
relations firm Edelman said while NGOs around the world continue to be the most trusted institutions, trust in them has declined from 66 per cent to 63 per cent. The survey also revealed that 60 per cent of the countries now distrust the media. A total of 19 countries have shown lower or equal trust in NGOs in 2015 compared to last year.
Trust in UAE business rose from 82 to 85 per cent. The majority of countries now sit below 50 per cent with regard to trust in business.
For the first time since the end of the Great Recession, trust in business faltered in 2014, signalling the end of the era of recovery for business.
Sweden was placed first in ‘country of origin’, which measures trust based on where a company’s headquarters is situated. Canada stood second in that category, while Germany came third, Switzerland fourth, and the United Kingdom fifth. The survey showed that BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries remain ‘distrusted’. The survey showed that a ‘Big Business’ is the most trusted in developing countries (75 per cent), while in developed countries, family-owned businesses were the most trusted with 72 per cent.
The survey also revealed that informed public perceive the biggest driver of change in business and industry is technology with 72 per cent, with ‘improving people’s lives’ and ‘make the world a better place’ scoring only 30 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.
While technology remains the most trusted of all industry sectors at 78 per cent, declines were evident across all technology-based industries in 2015. Privacy and security breaches weakened trust in both technology products and the sector. Across 74 per cent of countries, trust in the consumer electronics sector fell. In 67 per cent of countries, trust in telecommunications decreased and in 70 per cent of countries trust in technology in general sank. The chemicals, financial services, banking and media industry sectors continue to be the least-trusted, with trust levels below 60 per cent for all four. The 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer shows a global decline in trust over the last year, and the number of countries with trusted institutions has fallen to an all-time low among the informed public. Among the general population, the trust deficit is even more pronounced, with nearly two-thirds of countries falling into the distruster category.
