Sharjah Economic Development Department “SEDD” reviewed the most important developments and events in the economic sectors and the actions and efforts taken by the Department in all sectors and activities during the past year 2021, in order to provide a comprehensive tool for customers in the economic sectors in the emirate and inform them of the most important results achieved. Such thing was done in order to confirm its efforts to achieve its vision to make Sharjah the first economic destination locally and regionally in innovation, confidence and happiness.

Commenting on that, HE Sultan Abdullah bin Hadda Al Suwaidi, SEDD Chairman, stressed that the issuance of these data is one of the important economic indicators on which the Department relies on to study the economic situation in the emirate. HE stressed that the strategic goal of the Department is to achieve a comprehensive development plan that promotes economic development in Sharjah. This is done by developing services to suit the highest international quality standards in terms of speed of completion and access for customers in the economic sector and investors in the emirate and seeking to complete transactions easily and effectively.

Also, His Excellency explained that Sharjah succeeded in emerging from 2021 with a balanced and sustainable economic performance. It can be achieved by providing the emirate with many incentives, which contributed to enhancing the continuity of development in various fields and mitigating the economic and social impacts that the world has witnessed during the past period. Such thing has strengthened the economic and industrial sectors. On the other hand, SEDD carries on the task to develop number of sectors, through the continuous development of the business environment through business reconciliation, use of smart investor technologies, reliance on premium partner cards, use of digital technologies, application of government accelerators, continued adoption of quality systems to manage business continuity. All of this help to ensure the quality of the performance of digital services in the business environment, development in the areas of human capital in building innovative capacity and investing in citizenship capabilities in universities.

Furthermore, Sharjah's economic development indicators grew significantly in 2021, according to data from SEDD, with a total of 61,130 business licenses issued and renewed in Sharjah last year, an 8% growth over 2020, including the issuance of 6,831 new licenses and 54,299 renewed licenses.

Commenting on that, Fahad Al Khamiri, Director of Registration and Licensing Department at SEDD, said that data issued by the Department showed that e‑commerce licenses topped the issued and renewed licenses, with a growth rate of 96% compared to the same period last year. These licenses were followed by industrial licenses with a growth rate of 96% compared to the same period last year. Then, they were followed by industrial licenses at a growth rate of 13% and with a total of 2,452 licenses.  As for professional licenses, they hit a growth rate of 10% with a total of 19,360 licenses, while commercial licenses reached an estimated 7% increase and a total of 38,228 licenses. On the other hand, the growth rate of Eitimad   licenses reached 6%, confirming the stability and sustainability of the economic situation in Sharjah, thanks to the incentives launched by Sharjah Executive Council.

Earlier last year, SEDD implemented Sharjah Executive Council decisions on the regulation for the rules of economic activities through mobile cars in Sharjah, as part of the department's tasks in regulating the economic sector in all respects. Such thing falls within the concerns to apply policies, standards, regulations, decisions, executive circulars and in light of the high demand for such activities during the past period. Also, it was placed in order to find a mechanism to open new windows for sales and service delivery, and to stimulate the economic movement in Sharjah. Therefore, the Department, in coordination with the competent authorities in the emirate, were keen to allocate places to organize the practice of this activity and provide all the necessary requirements and facilities for them to encourage them to continue and create an atmosphere of competition.  As a result, these activities witnessed a high demand by investors during 2021 where the Department issued 73 permits during the past year with a growth of 16% compared to 2020.

On the other hand, Khalfan Al Herathi, Director of SEDD Branches Department, said that SEDD Branches completed 38,345 licenses issued and renewed in 2021, according to data on the licenses issued and renewed by the Department's branches located in cities and areas of Sharjah.

In detail, the number of licenses issued and renewed in the Industrial Areas Branch totaled 25,704 this year. On the other hand, the Central Region Branch came with a total of 7,224 licenses, while Khor Fakkan Branch hit 2,664 licenses. Then, Kalba Branch reached a total of 2,269 licenses, while Dibba Al Hisn Branch completed 484 issued and renewed licenses in the same year.

For his part, Salim Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director of Commercial Control and Protection Department at SEDD, illustrated that the Department handled 11,210 complaints received in 2021 with a growth rate of 19%. He added that the Department was able to solve 11,006 complaints with 98.2% rate and closed them completely, while the rest received by the Department are under completion, mostly because of other complaints. It should be noted that the number of inspection campaigns done by Commercial Officers on various economic establishments in the emirate reached 203,932 ones in the same period.

Consumer protection complaints accounted for the largest share of the number of complaints received. These complaints amounted to 9,729 of the total complaints dealt with. On the other hand, the number of complaints of commercial fraud amounted to 936, while the complaints of the service agent reached 545 ones.

Al Suwaidi added that the Department always seeks to promote consumer culture by educating consumers and investors about their rights and duties. This is done through an ideal business environment with a high culture of awareness and neutrality in the procedures of buying and selling in all economic sectors, following the highest international standards and practices, where these results confirm the active role played by the Department in preserving consumer rights, and the extent to which it can educate consumers and enhance the economic and commercial position in the emirate.

When it comes to the legal aspect, Hamad Omar Al Midfa, Deputy Director Legal Affairs Department at SEDD, pointed out that SEDD has contributed to the development of economic activities in the emirate. This is clearly stated by launching several initiatives that will enhance the business environment in the emirate, while at the same time attracting citizens to be a key and important partner in the business sector. He clarified that the Department  has provided  the service of "real beneficiary" as part of the department's efforts to achieve international standards and implement the requirements of Cabinet Resolution No. 58 for 2020 on the organization of real beneficiary data.

Integrated Sector & Sub-activities

Sharjah has succeeded in keeping up with successive economic changes at various local, regional and global levels and has continued to raise promising economic prospects in various sectors. The sub-activities achieved a total growth of 12% during 2021, and such activities are the main or specialized activities that have a compelling impact on the GDP of the economy and are driven by a number of activities complementary to other activities. Also, the sub-activities are considered to be a major engine in terms of monetary value added, value added and added. for human capital, which has a compelling impact on the gdp of the economy.

Contracting activity is one of the most important locomotive sectors, relying on a large number of productive activities, including wood, electrical, furniture industries, construction industries, floor-cladding industries and other service activities, including more than 250 activities. The construction and contracting sector have a production volume of 23 billion dirhams.

Engineering consultancy activity is also a first category and is a locomotive and complementary activity for the construction sector, relying on innovation, value added and the use of raw materials and modern construction chemicals, which the Emirate focuses on because of its outputs that contribute to the development of quality of life.

The activity of computer engineering consultancy and software design is one of the most important sectors that contributed to the development of the business environment because of the innovative intellectual environment and service provided by these technologies contributed to the provision of advanced services with rapid performance and accuracy in the business, where the volume of production in the information and communication activities sector in the Emirate reached AED 1.5 billion.

The metal works industry of buildings and the furniture industry has also emerged as operating extractive and mining industries and providing great production capacity in the Emirate. The detergent industry is also an important and locomotive industry in the emirate's economy as well as the waste treatment sector, which is key and vital because of its role in reducing the cost of pollution.

While the production volume in the education sector in Sharjah reached AED 2.5 billion and the education sector is considered a locomotive sector, it carries under its umbrella a number of construction projects and the sector is a large number of jobs, and is one of the sectors of comparative and competitive advantage in Sharjah, where the Emirate of Sharjah is highly equipped to attract foreign investment in education.

Likely, the health sector is one of the economic and social locomotives and is one of the consumer sectors for a large number of industries and services, with a production volume of AED 2.5 billion.

Furthermore, Ali Ahmed Al Naqbi, Deputy Director of IT Department at SEDD, emphasized that the Department's continuous improvements are a practical implementation of the guidance of good leadership and the digital transformation strategy adopted by Sharjah and UAE, which has contributed to achieving the highest efficiency, flexibility and effectiveness in providing government services and providing them to customers 24 hours a time and from anywhere through smart channels and easy steps. This has been positively reflected in highly popular business activities, which demonstrate the stimulating economic and investment environment for entrepreneurs and businesses and diversity in various business activities.

The year 2021 witnessed significant developments in the modernization and development of digital services for the Department, which came with detailed and pivotal repercussions  and results, while  the  participation of the smart investor increased from the total transactions completed to 24%.  The Department has also made great efforts in connecting and integrating with sharjah's unified application, which has resulted in the availability of the largest number of digital services on Sharjah’s digital platform.

Moreover, Mariam Nasir Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director of Industrial Affairs Department at SEDD, said that Sharjah has succeeded in creating a strong and appropriate legislative and legal environment that supports the visions and future plans of the industrial sector and is able to keep pace with the fourth industrial revolution and embodied the government's trends in becoming a leading global model in proactively confronting the challenges of the industrial future. She pointed out that such thing is represented through continuity adopting the economic incentives for the industrial sector at a 50% discount when issuing the license for a period of 3 years, as well as re-engineering the procedures for issuing new licenses, in order to shorten them to facilitate things for investors, and to allow an industrial office to be licensed for a period of one year.

 She carried on that based on SEDD’s reports and data, the indicators grew significantly in 2021reveiling a growth in the economic and industrial sectors with with a total of 2,452 industrial business licenses issued and renewed in Sharjah, with a growth rate of 13% compared to the same period in 2020.

Mariam Al Suwaidi continued that the industrial sector is one of the main drivers supporting Sharjah's economic development and plays a pivotal role in boosting the emirate's GDP. She stressed that Sharjah will continue its drive to achieve targeted economic diversification through government laws and legislation that support and encourage the industrial sector.

SEDD has also carried out a number of promotional field visits to a number of industrial facilities in Sharjah with the aim of strengthening permanent communication with the industrial sector and the business community, inspecting factory work and production and export programs, and promoting direct communication between the Department and industrial establishment owners to identify their aspirations and the most important needs and challenges facing them in order to sustain and develop the industrial sector and its activities.

Also,Ahmed Saif Bin Saed, Deputy Director of Commercial Affairs Department at SEDD, confirmed that SEDD will continue its strategies derived from the vision of the wise leadership to provide support, guidance and follow-up to youth and entrepreneurs in the emirate. Likely, it will keep on providing them with new and innovative solutions, helping them to prosper in the economic and commercial market, and to achieve a return added to the GDP of the economy of Sharjah in particular and UAE in general.

Bin Saed explained that the Department has provided several specialized workshops that fall within the programs and plans of the Department to qualify, train and educate entrepreneurs and new or existing entrepreneurs to be able to succeed their projects and continue to develop and ensure their sustainability by using and adopting the best means to market the project and how to build a business reputation for it, which ensures the success of the entrepreneur, and his ability to meet the requirements of the labor market and keep up with the changes of the business and investment sector and face all the emergency circumstances and challenges facing economies and markets of all kinds and causes.  To enhance sharjah's business environment.

Later on, Abdelaziz Omar AL Midfa, Deputy Director of Government Communication Department at SEDD, illustrated that the Department has succeeded in creating an interactive platform with its internal and external audience.The Department also signed four agreements during 2021, which fall within SEDD’s concerns to support and develop the economic environment in the emirate, and expand its activities to keep pace with the its requirements. Such thing was done in order to establish a community and integrative partnership that contributes to the establishment of social and economic stability in the country,

The Department also received 63 delegations during 2021 with the aim of discussing ways of cooperation, sharing experiences, and promoting mutual work between the Department and various entities, where the Department is keen to strengthen work with all government and private agencies in the public interest of the emirate.