The accelerating surge of business in the UAE has grown conspicuous despite the challenges the world is facing due to the Covid 19 pandemic. This probably stems from the UAE government's recent orientations to further openness to the world, return to normal life and attract talent and business, within strategic decisions aimed at enabling the country to elevate its ranking and score for the ease of doing business indicator, particularly after it ranked first regionally and fourth globally in the Entrepreneurship Index according to the report issued by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor GEM - NECI for the year 2020, in addition to the indicators of the best and safest destinations for citizens and for residents on its land.

Such catalysts, developments and ensuing challenges, along with the UAE's strategy for government services that aims to provide 100% state-of-the-art digital services accessible  anywhere and around the clock, prompted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to pursue its efforts towards establishing a new landscape for attestation services provided to entrepreneurs and companies, to facilitate their work. The Ministry sought to upscale the quality of services in line with the requirements of the business community, in partnership with the Federal Customs Authority and the Ministry of Finance. This, in turn, would contribute in strengthening the country's the economy.

In developing smart attestations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation focused on several axes:

-      Reviewing the current attestation process and the role partners have in it.

-      Studying mechanisms of commercial documents attestation in the UAE and abroad.

-      Simulating target customers' experience to identify potential challenges.

-      Assessing risks in the current mechanism in light of soaring business and trade activities.

The Ministry's conclusion highlighted the importance of improving two predominant factors in the process of commercial documents attestation, namely the time taken to attest the document and the stages of attestation by competent authorities. On that account, the necessary timeframe for the customer attest the document in its country of origin until it is used in the UAE and vice versa had to be reduced. This was coupled with a reduction in the number of places the customer must physically visit to clear commercial transactions related to attestations. Such was achieved by linking the smart attestation system with the Federal Customs Authority and local customs departments to facilitate attestation procedures, thus setting short time as an added value for business performance, which reflected positively on customer satisfaction, whether companies, businesspeople or stakeholders.

In partnership with the Federal Customs Authority, the Smart Attestation System will receive attestation requests for commercial invoices, certificates of origin and other commercial documents, that will be uploaded onto a smart data-reading system to grant attestation approval f through the Federal Customs Authority represented by all its local customs departments. The system enables data sharing and access to documents at any time. Once, the approval is granted, the customer can easily use the document according to its purpose of issuance. Additionally, the system will also enable the competent authorities to follow up and evaluate transactions to ensure business continuity and analyze challenges, thus contributing to the enhancement of services and quality of services provided to customers.

One might ask what tangible improvements will arise from the system's activation? The answer to this question is the improvement will reflect across several indicators related to the UAE's competitiveness with the highest countries applying best practices in this field, as follows: the time and cost of document compliance and limits, and the number of government agencies providing a common and unified service, coupled with government efficiency and technological readiness. In other words, the smart system will reduce the time it takes for the customer to clear customs transactions for imports at customs checkpoints, as the customer holds a prior system-generated approval on the necessary commercial documents. Linking several government agencies to a unified system will also reduce costs related to these procedures, thus reflecting the state-of-the-art technical structure of the UAE government, and harnessing to boost the country's  economy.

The plan to upgrade the attestation system also featured an analysis of current attestation fees and raised recommendations accordingly to stimulate business attraction, create a competitive environment for stakeholders and companies. This will contribute to an economic upswing by buttressing subsequent stages the UAE is set to enter, providing investors and entrepreneurs with the opportunity to establish and fully own their businesses, conduct their activity and easily access global markets, following the amendment of the Commercial Companies Law, which entered into effect on June 1, 2021.

Ahead of its expected launch in 2022, the Smart Attestation System will go through two phases: the first will link it to the systems of the Federal Customs Authority and local customs departments in the UAE, and the second will include linking with local departments and other UAE government agencies. We aspire to establish a unified customs link with the competent authorities abroad.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is always keen on establishing partnerships with government agencies across the country to move forward, to make UAE government directions a tangible reality for citizens and residents in the country and overseas. In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan - Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry continuously seeks to provide outstanding services that align with the prestigious stature the UAE has achieved and earned regionally and internationally, thanks to the vision of our wise leadership, and we are certain that our investment in human minds and smart services will place the UAE in the lead, in all fields.