Qatar’s success in being chosen to host the 2022 soccer World Cup will be a win for the entire region as it triggers competition among Arabian Gulf countries and attracts international investment, the head of Dubai’s Foreign Direct Investment office said.
“More competition means more concentration on us here in the region as a trade bloc,” Fahad Al Gergawi said in an interview in Dubai on Wednesday. “Qatar’s victory holds so many opportunities for Dubai and for the Gulf as a whole.”
Getting Qatar ready for the world’s most-watched sporting event will cost as much as $65bn, Merrill Lynch estimated. The announcement that Qatar was chosen came as a boost to Dubai, which is struggling to recover from a credit crunch that led to delays and cancellations involving some of its largest projects. Construction and real estate shares gained in Dubai on December 6, the first trading day after the winning bid was announced, on speculation that the entire region will reap the benefits.
The Foreign Direct Investment office, a unit of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, was established with the goal of offering support and services to foreign companies registered in Dubai. In 2010, 20 companies registered in Dubai through the FDI office, Al Gergawi said.
That figure doesn’t include businesses registered through one of more than a dozen so-called free zones, which offer tax exemptions and allow 100 percent foreign ownership, he said. He wouldn’t provide an estimate of the number of companies that will register in 2011.
Al Gergawi said that the current foreign-ownership regulations, which limit foreigners to a maximum 49 percent stake in a company, are for the UAE’s “national interests,” and that easing the rules isn’t necessary to lure more foreign businesses.
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