H.H. Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Department of Transport, opened on Tuesday the 4th edition of the National Housing Exhibition (NHE) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The three-day housing event is being organised by the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council. Nearly 120 exhibitors, including government entities, consultants, contractors and suppliers, are participating in the 11,000 square metre exhibition, which also features a series of activities and seminars.

The philanthropist Bill Gates has thanked the UAE for its support in working to eliminate deadly diseases and reduce world poverty. Mr Gates was speaking on the eve of the launch of the 2018 Goalkeepers Report, produced by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and which measures progress towards goals for sustainable development by 2030 set by the United Nations three years ago. In an interview with The National, Mr Gates said the foundation was "extremely thankful for the generosity of the UAE, including the ruling family, the government and a lot of organisations there."

The value of spending of federal authorities increased to around AED10.44 billion during the first quarter of 2018, an increase of 17 percent compared to AED8.92 billion during the same period in 2017, highlighting the country’s continuing overall development. According to a financial performance report on the country’s budget issued by the Ministry of Finance, the level of commitment to implementing the budget reached 100 percent during the first quarter of 2018, with public sector spending accounting for the largest proportion of government spending during the first three months of the year, reaching around AED3.277 billion, or 31.4 percent of total spending.

Abu Dhabi Global Market, ADGM, today announced an initiative to launch a FinTech digital sandbox. The digital sandbox allows financial institutions, FIs, and FinTech innovators to come together to experiment on products and solutions in a digital platform environment, supported by regulatory standards developed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, FSRA, of ADGM. The ADGM digital sandbox will provide a marketplace for open collaboration between FIs, FinTech firms, and regulators to facilitate testing and adoption of innovative digital financial products and services that can benefit the industry in the region.

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has reaffirmed that Cabinet Decision No. (42) of 2018 on Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products establishes an accurate and effective control system, allowing FTA to efficiently collect taxes, ensure transparency and combat tax evasion. The scheme is set to be implemented in collaboration with the relevant authorities to ensure a single integrated set of procedures is rolled out, guaranteeing the protection of rights and responsibilities of Taxable Persons, as well as ensuring transparency with regards to the procedures that regulate their relationship with FTA.