Wednesday 13 June 2007

UAE to allow 100% foreign company ownership

DUBAI: The booming United Arab Emirates is to allow foreigners to own a full 100 percent of local companies, up from 49 percent now, the economy minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
“The company law has been handed to the justice ministry and could be ready this summer,” Sheikha Lubna al-Qassimi was quoted as saying by Dubai’s Al-Bayan newspaper.
“But I cannot say it will become law before the end of the year,” she said. “Preference will go to companies that help to attract cutting edge technology and bring major benefits to the national economy.”
She said talks were underway at the federal and local levels within the seven-member UAE federation, as well as with the private sector, to determine which sectors would be open to 100 percent foreign ownership.
Direct foreign investment in the UAE was $12.8 billion in 2006, up from $10.9 billion in 2005, the minister was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times.
The UAE includes Dubai, a business and tourism hub, and Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital.
A report by the International Monetary Fund last month said the UAE’s gross domestic product would register real growth of 8.2 percent in 2007. afp

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