STANDPOINT by Atique Naqvi

Kuwait-headquartered logistics firm Agility released its 11th annual Emerging Markets Logistics Index this week The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are among the top 10 logistics markets in the 2020 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index. China and India lead the list, in first and second places, respectively. The Index, which is based on a survey of 780 supply chain professionals across 50 countries, also revealed that a big majority (64 percent) of respondents see a global recession in 2020, while only 12 percent believe that a recession is an unlikely event this year. Click here for the full story .

50% of government transactions to be on Blockchain by 2021. Government departments in the United Arab Emirates are adopting blockchain technologies faster than the private sector, and there are more than 30 projects under development as part of Smart Dubai initiative alone. As part of this initiative, Smart Dubai has launched a blockchain platform as a service to host government use cases, and over all there are more than 30 blockchain platforms under development. “Through this policy, government entities are encouraged to establish integration channels with the aim to improve functioning of services that cut across areas of responsibility of several entities, and increasingly to enable digital integration with the private sector,” the report said. Click here to read from the original article on Zawya news website - a Thomson Reuters company.

Jebel Ali Port in Dubai The dwindling buying power of consumers, owing to slow economic growth, is adversely affecting trading companies and putting pressure on average industrial rents in the UAE. Though rents have plunged in the first two quarters of 2019, this is seen as an opportunity for firms to scale up their businesses. Average headline industrial rents have softened in Abu Dhabi and Dubai by 12.1 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the first two quarters of 2019, according to global real estate consulting and research firm Knight Frank. Click here to read from the original article on Zawya news website - a Thomson Reuters company.

First 3D printed office structure in Dubai Few industries are witnessing a widespread adoption of 3D printing technology, which represents only 0.1 percent of the total $13.1 trillion value added through the global manufacturing industry. Advisory firm Moody’s Investors Service says that 3D printing technology is used in niche applications and will help boost companies’ profitability and market shares in a limited number of industries. Click here to read from the original article on Zawya news website - a Thomson Reuters company.