HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, received the “Finance Minister of the Year Middle East and North Africa for 2012” award by Emerging Markets Magazine on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group that were held in Tokyo – Japan during October.

The award given to HE Al Tayer comes in recognition of his efforts and continuous contributions in the field of financial resources management in order to achieve sustainable and balanced development in the United Arab Emirates. HE Al Tayer oversaw the zero-based budget preparation process according to the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) strategic plan. HE also went along with the development phases and the preparation of a package of regulations and electronic financial services, including Emirates Gate of GFS reports and GCC Takamul system of Gulf Common Market (GCM) and Customs Union, as well as the e-Dirham system - second generation.

HE Al Tayer has a prominent role in the success of the Ministry in managing Gulf relations through the UAE taking control of the 31st GCC Common Market Summit in order to ensure the provision of better economic opportunities for GCC citizens in addition to contributing to the activation process of financial and economic integration in the Gulf and in upgrading the concept of Gulf citizenship on various levels.

Furthermore, HE Al Tayer is well known at the level of Arab countries for his distinctive and remarkable proactive actions in supporting economic stability in the Arab region during the Exceptional meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Finance, which was held in September in Abu Dhabi. The meeting called to further economic and financial reforms from international, regional and national institutions with regard to promoting economic stability, developing financial systems, improving business climates, supporting intra-regional trade, meeting Arab food security demands, in addition to following up with establishing a regional mechanism for the clearance and settlement of Arab payments project.

HE Al Tayer contributed in facing all the economic challenges met by the UAE during the global financial crisis, where HE pushed towards implementing the directives of the UAE’s wise leadership to send out about AED 50 billion through MoF on several batches in order to increase the proportion of liquidity at local banks. HE also chaired the Ministerial Committee overseeing the financial and economic sector in the UAE to limit the effects of the global financial crisis, which included in its members all of the UAE Minister of Economy and the Governor of the UAE Central Bank.

HE Al Tayer’s achievements played an important role in upgrading the UAE to occupy the first position globally in the field of efficient government fiscal policy along with being the seventh in the efficiency of its public sector financial management according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2012 issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland. The UAE surpassed about 140 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Japan, France and China, in several factors most notably the government’s efforts in raising the efficiency of its social security and pensions policy for retired citizens, as well as the efficiency of the government’s budget in terms of wise management of surpluses and spending.

HE Al Tayer thanked the wise leadership of the UAE: HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry of the UAE, praising them for their guidance. HE Al Tayer also expressed his gratitude and appreciation towards MoF’s staff who have contributed positively to the formulation, development and application of many ambitious strategic initiatives to achieve the vision of the Ministry.

The award aims to highlight decision-makers in all regions of the world every year, where the editor team selects the winners covering five regions in the world, including markets of both Americas, emerging European markets, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The winners are announced in the Magazine, which is published in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group each year.

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