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Sharjah Identifies 7 High-Potential Sectors

The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
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Sharjah Identifies 7 High-Potential Sectors

The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)

A new economic report has identified seven high-potential sectors in Sharjah that are powering qualitative and sustainable strategic investments into the emirate and strengthening its competitiveness on the global economic and investment landscape.

The Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah)’s report named the sectors as health and wellbeing, mobility and logistics, culture and tourism, agri-food technology, greentech, human capital and innovation, and advanced manufacturing.

The report, titled Future Trends and Sector Potential, was developed in collaboration with numerous government departments and private sector entities in the emirate and in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Middle East.

Sharjah and the UAE’s business-friendly environment backed by modern legislation, future-ready infrastructure, a highly talented workforce and more than 60,000 SMEs and startups have been stated by the report as key factors that boost their FDI attractiveness.

It pointed to the six specialized free zones and 33 industrial zones in Sharjah, as well as strategic location and global connectivity via sea and air routes and ports on both Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf that have yet again proved the emirate’s appeal as a gateway to the GCC and the wider region with a GDP of $1.6 trillion (AED5.88 trillion).

The report also underlined that the UAE is one of the world’s most open and investor-friendly economies which has attracted high volumes of foreign investments in the past few years, noting that Sharjah leverages UAE’s global reputation to build on its status as a go-to FDI destination in the region.

Against the backdrop of a devastating pandemic that swept the world, the report showed that Sharjah minimized its financial impact on its economy by successfully attracting FDI worth $220 million (AED808 million), including a 60 percent growth in FDI projects in Q3 and Q4 compared to 2019, which led to the creation of 1,117 new jobs.

“This strong trajectory of growth during the pandemic is a reflection of the high performance of the ICT sector which recorded 55.6 percent growth, followed by Food and Agriculture Industries at 49.7 percent, and Life Sciences sector, which grew by 47 percent, and finally, Logistics and Distribution, which registered a 46.2 percent growth.”

Ahmed Obaid al-Qaseer, Acting CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, said: “Today, Sharjah is home to many investment opportunities in various fields, especially in the new economy sectors, advanced industries, tourism, agriculture, innovation and others, with advanced infrastructure and agile legislation.”

For his part, Mohamed al-Musharrkh, CEO of Sharjah FDI Office, said that in the post-COVID world, investments in technology have outpaced all other sectors.

He added that Sharjah’s unveiling of the first 3D printing house in the region signals its competitiveness in advanced manufacturing.

“Invest in Sharjah is keen on attracting and facilitating investments seeking growth in the emirate’s secure and stable environment,” Musharrkh noted.

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Italy Forges on with World's Largest Suspension Bridge

(FILES) A general aerial view shows the Sicilian coast towards Cape Torre Faro, over the Strait of Messina, taken from the outskirts of the town of Scilla, in Calabria region in southern Italy, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
(FILES) A general aerial view shows the Sicilian coast towards Cape Torre Faro, over the Strait of Messina, taken from the outskirts of the town of Scilla, in Calabria region in southern Italy, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
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Italy Forges on with World's Largest Suspension Bridge

(FILES) A general aerial view shows the Sicilian coast towards Cape Torre Faro, over the Strait of Messina, taken from the outskirts of the town of Scilla, in Calabria region in southern Italy, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)
(FILES) A general aerial view shows the Sicilian coast towards Cape Torre Faro, over the Strait of Messina, taken from the outskirts of the town of Scilla, in Calabria region in southern Italy, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Italy hopes to begin constructing the world's largest suspension bridge connecting Sicily to the Italian mainland this summer amid widespread skepticism that it will ever be built.

The 13.5-billion-euro ($15.3-billion) project would carry trains and six lanes of traffic, allowing cars to cross the Strait of Messina in 15 minutes, AFP reported.

Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government hopes to boost the economy of the impoverished region, although critics say there are better ways to do this -- and many believe that after decades of false starts, the bridge will never actually happen.

The choppy waters between the eastern tip of Sicily and the western edge of the region of Calabria are legendary as the place where monsters Scylla and Charybdis terrified sailors in Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey".

These days the challenges are more prosaic, from winds of more than 100 kilometers an hour (62 mph) to the real risk of earthquakes in a region that lies across two tectonic plates.

The government says the bridge will be at the cutting edge of engineering, with the section suspended between its two pillars stretching 3.3 kilometers, the longest in the world.

But critics point to a long history of public works announced, financed and never completed in Italy, whether due to corruption or political instability, resulting in enormous losses for taxpayers.

"The public does not trust this political class and these projects that become endless construction sites," said Luigi Storniolo, a member of protest group No Ponte (No Bridge).

Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, one of the main champions of the project, insists it will be a game-changer for the local economy.

"The bridge will be a catalyst for development," he said on a recent visit to Reggio di Calabria, the city where the bridge will begin.

The government hopes to boost trade in Sicily, which currently suffers from an "insularity cost" of around 6.5 billion euros a year, according to regional authorities.

Meloni's ministers are expected to give their final approval to the project -- which Rome will fund -- later this month, and Salvini insists construction will begin this summer.

But work had already been announced for the summer of 2024, before being postponed -- a common theme in the history of the bridge, the idea of which dates back to the unification of Italy at the end of the 19th century.