While the other Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman) where absent from the first 50 rankings, only Jordan was ranked in the fifty-second place.

The United States led the ranking in the competitiveness list, while Hong Kong came in second place, then Singapore and Switzerland in the third and fourth place whereas Canada and Luxembourg in the fifth and sixth, Norway and Denmark ranked in seventh and eighth place, Sweden and Germany in ninth and tenth place, Taiwan in the eleventh, Malaysia, the Netherlands ranked fourteenth and fifteenth.

It should be noted that Yearbook global competitiveness of the World Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne; measures the competitive countries across four main themes, namely: the focus of economic performance, the focus of government efficiency and focus of the business environment and the focus of infrastructure, and fall within the four axes 342 indicator sub include various aspects and factors that affect the four axes.

Qatar emerges as the country with the most efficient government, closely followed by Singapore.

Rwanda’s strong showing in seventh position was secured thanks in large part to the low level of waste in government spending.

The efficiency of government has a significant bearing on a country’s competitiveness and economic growth. Excessive bureaucracy and regulation, a lack of transparency, and inadequate legal frameworks all impose additional costs on business and impede expansion.

According to the 2014 edition of the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) of INSEAD, the leading international business school, Qatar climbs into top 25 for ability to grow, attract and retain talent. The study which measures a nation’s competitiveness based on the quality of talent it can produce, attract and retain, was produced in collaboration with the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI) and Adecco, and focuses on the topic ‘growing talent for today and tomorrow’. The index ranked Qatar 25th globally and second in the Middle East behind the United Arab Emirates (22nd) and ahead of Saudi Arabia (32nd).

“These three countries combine a high degree of external openness (UAE ranks 3rd in the world, Qatar 4th and KSA 9th) with a high level of performance on ‘talent and business enablers’. All three countries share the same approach by which their respective governments have given priority to making life easier for business and more attractive for external talents. This is proving a successful combination”.

Qatar 25th (34th, 2013) ranks particularly high on the ‘Attract’ pillar reflecting the government’s efforts to diversifying its resource-based economy. As part of its clear drive towards becoming a ‘knowledge economy’, the government has taken steps to attract foreign talent and expertise. This is evidenced by the country’s performance in areas of External Openness (4^th ) with top ranks on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Technology Transfer (4th). Qatar is heavily biased towards the Input sub-index (20th).