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Dubai: Dubai Trade, an online services provider and business facilitator for DP World, Dubai Customs and Jafza will boost UAE's ranking in cross-border activities.
Mahmoud Al Bastaki, director of Dubai Trade, an online trade portal, told Gulf News UAE's ranking could be, at the least, below 20 next year, when the World Bank revises their report.
"World Bank's [ease of business] report last year that ranked UAE 24th, was unfair and inaccurate," he said.
Al Bastaki said that they checked the criteria for assessing the ranking and much of the information was incorrect.
"They say the number of documents required is eight but it is actually five, for example. The cost for exporting products is quoted at $400, while it is much less," Al Bastaki said, "If they say it takes three days to clear a shipment, we can say that it takes one day."
Challenge
He added that they could challenge the World Bank with proof. "We have gone to our main clients and inquired about the time, cost and documents required for all sorts of processes."
"We have approached the World Bank to change the 2008 figures, which is still pending. For 2009, we will definitely have better figures and ranking," Al Bastaki said.
Dubai government's aim is to be ranked among the top 10 countries in the world, he said. "We benchmark the current top countries and we are like them is some aspects or better than them in others."
Al Bastaki said that the department is working with the Prime Minister's Office in UAE to improve the ranking for Dubai, as it is an important index for foreign direct investment and UAE in general.
Dubai Trade offers numerous services to its clients to help reduce the amount of time, cost and documents required for trade operations. Their clients number over 10,000 and Al Bastaki expects them to double within six months.
"By merging the process from DP World and Dubai Customs and Jafza, we streamline the process to make it faster, cheaper and less cumbersome as there would be no hassle of going to different offices for services," Al Bastaki said.
The department's aim is to remove the necessity of having counters as all services and transactions can take place online.
"We are working in line with the Dubai 2015 strategy to make Dubai an electronic city, where all business can be done from the office," he said.
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