Emphasis on business excellence - UAE

UAE Minister of Economy Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi yesterday highlighted the practice of business excellence in Dubai and the whole UAE, noting that the UN has recently cited Dubai for giving out awards to companies and individuals that have excelled in their chosen fields and promoted good business practices.Speaking before a luncheon held to honour her visit to the India Club, she noted the vision of the UAE leaders, who in the mid-1990s established the Dubai Quality Award, the Government Excellence Programme, the Shaikh Khalifa Excellence Award, the Sharjah Economic Excellence Award and the Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award, to support initiative within this framework. "Today, all government departments in the UAE are implementing an excellent framework as a means to continually improve service and performance," she said. Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, recently received a UN award on behalf of the Dubai government for improving services category in West Asia region. "Winners of excellence awards and credible research studies have proved beyond doubt that the effective implementation of excellence awards positively impacts and benefits all sectors of the economy..." she said."It also helps organisations to improve their corporate governance and fulfil their obligations of social responsibility," she added. Shaikha Lubna also stressed before the Indian community the good relationship between the governments and peoples of the UAE and India in today's "emerging age of wisdom" and which dates back to many years — socially, economically and politically. She noted the further strengthening of UAE-Indian relations with the recently successful visit to India by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Shaikha Lubna said the UAE and India have further forged good relations in this present time which is seeing one of the five major shifts in the history of mankind — the emerging age of wisdom, or the probabilistic systems benefiting from the knowledge of the crowd. Meanwhile, Indian Consul General to Dubai Venu Rajamony said his government supports the practice of business excellence in all the economic sectors. "Everybody should try to find for ways to achieve business excellence," he said. Rajamony said India would like to increase its agricultural exports to the UAE, saying his country has vast tracts of agricultural lands. Bilateral trade between the two countries jumped 336 per cent to $13 billion over a five-year period from 2002 to 2006. He said India is keen in pursuing the ongoing trade talks with the GCC regional bloc that kicked off following the 2005 signing of bilateral agreement to initiate FTA negotiations. Last year, officials from the GCC countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman — concluded the third round of trade talks with China for the same purpose. Shaikha Lubna also attended the launch at the club of a book entitled Business Awards Strategy for Winning written by Sunil Thawani, senior manager of corporate governance of Sama Dubai. Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired magazine, and Sunil Singh, chairman of India Club, also spoke on the occasion.The chairman of India Club, Sunil Singh, described as a "historic event" Shaikha Lubna's visit to the club, where she inaugurated the newly renovated swimming pool building by cutting the ribbon at the poolside. Source