Creating guidelines for new state-owned enterprises and authorities in the United Arab Emirates
Providing guidance to the Federal Government on developing new state owned enterprises
As part of the widespread reforms taking place in the UAE in the mid-2000s, in 2007 we were invited by the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government of the UAE to assess its organisational structure and its potential involvement in new state-owned enterprises.
We prepared guidelines for assessing the case for new federal organisations engaged in non-commercial activities, balancing the autonomy and accountability of federal organisations in an appropriate manner, and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in carrying out their functions.
In order to achieve this, we developed a questionnaire to investigate the structure, operations, performance and relations of organisations.
We interviewed a wide array of officials in Federal organisations, for example the Federal Customs Authority, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce as well as local government departments, authorities and organisations. This helped us to understand and analyse the government arrangements and the relationships between stakeholders.
Based on this research and subsequent analysis, we prepared profiles of individual Federal organisations, which included governance, finance and human resources issues. We presented our reviews of international best practice and its significance in relation to the UAE National Strategy and a set of policy guidelines and principles, and draft legal instruments.
