Campaign to emphasise unity of UAE begins

Dubai: "We are all Emirates', a campaign which aims to emphasise the unity and strength of the UAE as a country in the face of all kinds of challenges, began with 1,000 companies and businesses writing loyalty letters about their strong presence in the UAE market despite the global downturn on Wednesday.

Organised with strong backing of the Federation of the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the campaign also aims to refute the rumours and allegations that claim the UAE economy has collapsed and challenge the idea that many residents have left the UAE because of the global economic downturn.

It also aims to establish the concept of national solidarity of all nationalities, Emiratis and UAE residents. The campaign is in line with the celebrations of UAE's 38th National Day on December 2.

The big celebration, however, will be held on December 6 with a musical opera featuring five prominent Arab singers as well as a discussion forum in which foreign media personnel will be invited to take part and explain their point of view.

Moaath Al Merri, General Manager of the campaign, said some foreign media took advantage of the global economic crisis to attack the UAE as a country and as an economy.

He said the crisis was used to magnify the aftermath, which was felt in every country.

"Our message is in our achievements during the crisis period. We respond with action and not words. We worked in silence and did not have any secrets," Al Merri said.

Moayed Waheeb, Head of Information and Media at the Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, reviewed the status of the private business sector in the UAE during the crisis period. He presented figures and comparisons about the status of businesses.

Minor effects

"The global downturn did affect the UAE, but the effects were minor and varied between countries across the world,"

He said the only sector that the world focused on, to show how badly the UAE economy was affected, was the real estate sector.

"This is a part of other sectors and not the only one upon which it can be judged that an economy has collapsed. Whoever thinks that way does not understand the business sense. The contribution of the real estate [sector] declined by 15 per cent but it was rectified and is now in the healing phase," he said.

Al Merri also pointed out that none of the banks or major companies in the country announced their bankruptcy, something which happened across the world.

"I do not have an analytical reasoning why the UAE has been negatively targeted during the crisis, but it could be the tax of success and the fears of major business cities from losing investments to Dubai and the UAE," he said.

Al Merri said there are 800 requests from companies and businesses to join the campaign, but due to the lack of time [as the National Day is round the corner] it is not possible to include them all, but the campaign will continue until after National Day.