2010 was another year of achievement for ADCED. We made considerable progress towards the fulfilment of our mission to support the development of a diversified and sustainable economy in Abu Dhabi through the delivery of a number of key initiatives and by further strengthening our operations.

During 2010, ADCED’s key achievements included an assessment of the financial services sector, an ongoing study into the labor market in the emirate and the launch of “ADMOD” a state-of-the-art economic modeling platform developed in partnership with leading modelling network ECOMOD. “ADMOD” is a powerful, policy-oriented, multi-sector model of the Abu Dhabi economy, available for all government agencies. The model allows policymakers to assess the impact of policies on different groups of the population, the labour market, the economic sectors, and the overall economy. ADCED is committed to constantly update and upgrade the model in a collaborative way.

As part of ADCED’s mandate to create economic awareness, we concluded the first phase of “AKOUN“– a campaign to inspire young Emiratis to become entrepreneurs. Launched in 2009, the first phase of “AKOUN” campaign was a great success with over 1,100 students attending the different workshops across the universities of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. After conducting a study assessing the financial literacy in Abu Dhabi, we decided to launch “DIRHAMI”, a programme to improve personal financial knowledge and support the ability of the people of the emirate to make sound and informed financial decisions.

The end of 2010 witnessed a significant recognition of ADCED’s commitment to organisational excellence with the prestigious ISO 2008:9001 certificate for management system awarded by the German company TUV Nord. Building the skills and experience of our employees at all levels of the organization and spreading the culture of excellence are central to ADCED’s mission. I would like to thank all our staff for their valuable contribution and ongoing commitment towards excellence and achieving ADCED’s goals and objectives.

In 2011, there will be new opportunities and new challenges. But we have built a dedicated team to take advantage of these opportunities and to tackle any challenges that come along. We are confident that the efforts and resources of the ADCED team and the active guidance of our new board will lead us successfully in our pursuit of excellence.

We hope this website gives you a deeper understanding of our work and I look forward to updating you on our progress in the future.

Fahad Saeed Al Raqbani