Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi
ISLAMABAD: With a stable and safe business environment and laws that are good for investors, the UAE is a great place for investments from around the world. At the crossroads of major growth centres in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, the UAE is a place where businesses can quickly grow to serve regional and global markets.
Foreign investors can benefit from the UAE’s expertise in logistics and its role as a regional hub for the Middle East, as well as from its strong network of economic agreements, which includes 101 agreements to avoid double taxation and 67 bilateral investment treaties. Multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and private investors can all be sure of long-term growth if they invest in the UAE.
The UAE was ranked 9th in the world in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2021. They did well in government and business efficiency, economic performance, and infrastructure. In addition, the UAE was ranked second in the world in the Global Competitiveness Report 2020 for its use of ICT, flexible work arrangements, digital skills, and digital legal framework.
The UAE’s economy is based on its strategic location, strong financial reserves, large sovereign wealth funds, strong international relations, consistent government spending on infrastructure, digital transformation, and innovation, a progressive policy of economic diversification, multi-specialty free zones, and more foreign direct investment.
To help build a knowledge-based economy that is sustainable, diverse, and competitive, the UAE is focusing on making it easier for people to invest in a number of priority sectors. The UAE also gives its large expat community the freedom to do business anywhere in the country, including in its many free zones, industrial areas, and commercial buildings.
The UAE has business rules that make it easy for foreigners to own 100 percent of 122 economic activities in 13 different sectors. The country also regularly hosts high-profile conferences, international exhibitions, and trade and investment events.
The UAE also gives investors a variety of incentives in order to boost the number of small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups in the country. At the same time, the government removes barriers that slow the flow of investments.
Among the incentives are the following:
100% of the company’s owners
Investors from any country can set up and fully own businesses in the UAE. This change happened because of Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020 on Commercial Companies, which says that a foreign company that wants to open a branch and do business in the UAE doesn’t need a UAE national agent to be there.
40 Free Places to Start a Business
Foreign investors can get tax breaks and own 100% of their businesses in more than 40 free zones. The UAE also gives investors a choice of where to set up their businesses, so they can choose the best place for them. There are free zones all over the UAE, which allow investors to do a wide range of business activities.
No income tax, and all profits go to the business.
People and investors don’t have to pay income tax in the UAE, but oil companies and branches of foreign banks do. As a country that has always had a free economic model, people and investors can freely bring back all of their profits.
Golden Visa for Investors
The United Arab Emirates changed their visa system so that people can stay there for 5 to 10 years. Investors, business owners, and talented people can get these visas, which let them and their families live, work, or study in the UAE for a long time and enjoy the benefits of long-term residency.
Conclusion
The UAE is a good place to invest because it is stable and safe, and people from more than 200 different countries live there. In the UAE, where more than 1.5 million Pakistanis live, people are happier than anywhere else in the Arab world, according to the World Happiness Report 2020.
As the second-safest country in the world (according to the Global Finance Index 2021) and the country with the second-largest economy in the GCC and Arab world, the UAE is still the best place to live and invest.
The person writing is the UAE Ambassador to Pakistan.
