A United Arab Emirates minister announced on Wednesday incentives aiming to attract 300 digital companies to set up offices in the oil-rich Gulf nation within six to 12 months.
The incentives include a streamlined visa process, faster access to the financial and banking system and attractive commercial and residential leasing, Trade Minister Thani al-Zeyoudi told a news conference in Dubai.
The new initiative will focus on companies led by software developers, data scientists, computer programmers and digital asset entrepreneurs, he said.
As part of its latest initiative, the Ministry of Economy signed partnerships with seven entities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to convince digital companies to establish offices or headquarters in the UAE.
They are the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the Dubai International Financial Centre, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Dubai Internet City, Dubai South, Emirates NBD and digital banking platform Wio.
Under the partnership, the seven organizations have committed to expedite the incorporation process for digital companies and ease their access to banking and financing systems, Dr Al Zeyoudi said.
The UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy, has undertaken several economic, legal and social reforms in recent years to strengthen its business environment, boost FDI, attract skilled workers and provide incentives to companies to set up or expand their operations in the country.
Some of the reforms include the expansion of longer-term residency visas to broader categories of residents, wide-ranging changes to personal and labour laws, measures to allow full ownership of onshore companies by foreigners and the decision to change the UAE’s working week from Monday to Friday to align with other major economies.
The UAE was ranked first in the Arab world and 19th globally in terms of FDI inflows, according to the World Investment Report 2022 issued by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in June. The country attracted $20.7 billion worth of FDI last year, up 4 per cent from 2020.
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