Sharjah is attracting companies in different sectors and its economy could grow up to 7.5 per cent in 2025 on the back of smarter policies, more economic integration and foreign investments in key sectors, a senior UAE official said.
“We will be hosting a number of quite frank discussions with the private sector about what the government should be doing better to protect the core industries – manufacturing, trading, agriculture and the environment – that we have,” said Sheikh Fahim Bin Sultan Bin Khalid Al Qasimi, executive chairman of the Department of Government Relations.
“Going forward, more integration, smarter policy and working alongside the private sector will see growth of 6.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent,” Al Qasimi said during the Sharjah Ramadan Majlis 2025, which was attended by many other senior officials.
“Sharjah’s economy is in great shape. Our economy is about $45 billion. In 2023, we had 6.5 per cent growth, 3.5 per cent more than the global average,” he said, adding that the automotive industry and vehicle parts accounted for 24 per cent of the emirate’s economy, agriculture at 19 per cent, manufacturing was close to 17 per cent and the wider food ecosystem at about 17 per cent.
“I think 2025 would see real estate growing due to great developers that we have like Alef, Arada and other private sector players,” Al Qasimi added.
“We need to identify the adjacencies and interdependencies in supply chains to understand from the private sector what we need to do to move forward.”
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of state for foreign trade, said that Sharjah is attracting companies, thanks to ‘Invest in Sharjah’, The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park.
“Companies are moving here and we want to show them the incentives, markets and benefits from those Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreements (CEPAs) and ensure that they understand how they can trade in those markets,” he said at the Sharjah Ramadan Majlis 2025.
Juma Al Kait, assistant undersecretary for foreign trade at the Ministry of Economy, noted that foreign trade, which is at the heart of the UAE economic strategy, grew around 14 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year – seven times faster than the global rate.
“If we look at Sharjah’s foreign trade, it grew 8.1 per cent in 2024 compared to last year. There is a huge potential for the private sector to benefit or to utilise important agreements.”
