ABU DHABI: Her Excellency Maryam Mohammed Al-Rumaithi, Chairwoman of the Emirates Business Women Council and Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the Abu Dhabi Business Women Council (ADBWC), emphasized on the importance of expanding economic and investment cooperation between the UAE and China. She also emphasized on the importance of laying the foundations of a strategic partnership between both sides that contributes to exchanging expertise and benefiting from the best practices in habilitating and developing the role of women in all the economic and services sectors.
During an extended meeting with a Chinese businesswomen delegation at the Chamber’s Tower in Abu Dhabi, Her Excellency Al-Rumaithi said that under the wise leadership and the unlimited support of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the union, women in the UAE achieved huge accomplishments. “The approach of empowering women continued under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE,” she said, adding that the role of women increased thanks to the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, which encouraged her on moving forward towards more excellence and entrepreneurship.
“Our country was aware since its foundation to draft all the laws which would ensure the rights of individuals without discrimination between men and women and within the frame of equality and equal opportunities between the two sexes and freedom of choosing careers.”
The Chairwoman pointed out that thanks to the interest of the wise leadership in empowering women, the government opened up the door before her to assume public positions while considering her privacy.
“Thanks to the environment which these policies provided in empowering women and ensuring equal opportunities between men and women, the woman in the UAE now involved actively in work and productivity in all public and private sectors,” she said, noting that official statistics point out that the percentage of female students in higher education reached 71% of the total number of students in state universities. She added that the percentage of women in technical positions reached 60% and they also occupy 66% of the positions in the public sector 30% of which are in senior positions. Women also occupy 7 seats out of 40 in the National Union Council.
Al-Rumaithi stated that the Emirati woman works efficiently in all sectors that currently there are 21,000 women who run their own investments which account for AED 40 million which is around 10% of the total value of the private sector in the UAE. Businesswomen form 15% of the board members of the UAE chambers of commerce and industry. Besides, a new decision released recently by the cabinet obligates joint stock companies to appoint women in their boards of directors, noting that the report of the Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment which relates to the World Economic Forum mentioned that the UAE achieved an advanced place amongst the countries which respect women. On the level of the Arab world, the UAE ranked first according to the Arab Woman Studies Center in Paris and achieved the first place in regard to equality between the two sexes which was released by the World Economic Forum.
In regard to the relations between the UAE and China, Al-Rumaithi said that the two countries have strong economic and historic relations and that these relations witnessed rapid growth over the past few years. “Today, China is one of the most important and biggest trade partners to the UAE and the volume of trade exchange between the two sides reached AED 70 billion by the end of 2013,” she said.
She added that according to 2013 statistics, China came in the 7th place amongst the countries which export to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and in the 24th place amongst the countries which the emirate re-exported to. Besides, the number of valid Chinese memberships in the Abu Dhabi Chamber reached 229 ones by the end of last year, 66 of which are owned by Chinese businesswomen.
She emphasized that the increase in the number of trade exchange between the UAE and China reflects the great interest of the related authorities in the two friendly countries to elevate these relations to the highest levels. She also raised hope in a bigger Chinese contribution to support the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 and Abu Dhabi Vision in enhancing the role of economic and trade partnership between the UAE and the rest of the world.
Her Excellency Aisha Al-Dhaheri and Her Excellency Fatima Khameis Al-Mazroui, board members of the Executive Board of the ADBWC, attended the meeting along with a high number of business women from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
For her part, the head of the Chinese delegation praised the accomplishments of Emirati women and the position which they reached thanks to the support of the leadership of the UAE and their awareness in increasing the role of women in the comprehensive and sustainable development process of the UAE.
She emphasized that such accomplishments were a direct result to a clear vision and a strong strategy to increase the role of women, especially on the economic level, which appear very clear in the large number of Emirati businesswomen who practice a large number economic, trade and services activities.
She also stressed on the readiness of the Chinese establishments which are related to the affairs of businesswomen to cooperate with the ADBWC in regard to training and habilitating programs to support and encourage businesswomen in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
