UAE restructures government, seeking more agility as it deals with coronavirus impact
The United Arab Emirates announced a broad
government restructuring on Sunday, merging government entities and appointing
new economy and industry ministers, and giving it a year to achieve new
targets.
The head of Abu Dhabi's national oil company ADNOC,
Sultan al-Jaber, was named as industry and advanced technology minister and
Abdullah al-Marri was appointed economy minister, as part of the restructuring
announced by UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum on his
official Twitter account.
The energy and infrastructure ministries were merged
under a single portfolio to be headed by the current energy minister, Suhail Al
Mazrouei.
The changes are being made to help the country deal
with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Sheikh Mohammed said last month
when plans to restructure were first announced.
Changes include abolishing half of government
service centers and converting them to digital platforms within two years and
merging around half of federal agencies with each other or within ministries.
Sheikh Mohammed, also the ruler of Dubai and vice
president of the UAE, said the changes would speed up decision making and make
the government more responsive to change.
