Over the past two years, the UAE has made a number of legislative reforms that have increased its attractiveness as a business and expat-friendly country ahead of its 50th anniversary, said Bassem Daher, partner at Galadari Advocates and Legal Consultants.
What at first appears to be a concentrated flurry of activity, however, is part of a long-term vision that has been in the works for many years, Daher explained.
“I’ve been in the country for over seven years and I’ve seen major changes happening quickly, at a pace which you do not see in other countries. Therefore, while I am calling this period the last sprint before the Golden Jubilee, it is actually part of a long marathon in terms of legal reforms and forward thinking with regards to the country’s social and legal structure,” he said.
“We are seeing a very active legislator over the last two years which could be the result of the 50th anniversary. The country felt it had a major milestone in its history and wanted to be authentic to its identity of many people coming together and living here. We’ve seen a lot of changes which all together make this a very attractive country for expats, foreign investors and businesses,” continued Daher.
With expats making up around 90 percent of the UAE’s population, recent social-related legislative reforms were “a great addition for all these international investors, businessmen and expats talents coming to the country to really feel that they are at home,” said Daher.
Those reforms include the loosening of regulations relating to alcohol consumption, amending the personal status civil law for non-Muslims (which means marriage, divorce and inheritance laws for non-Muslim expats are dictated by their home country’s laws), and fostering gender parity in terms of equal pay for equal work and mandating at least one woman sits on the board of publically listed companies.
When it comes to business-related reforms, Daher mentions the amendment relating to 100 percent foreign ownership of companies as a “major step” as well as the ones relating to digitalisation.
“The UAE is the number one digitisation hub in the Middle East which is not what you would expect from an oil producing country. An example of that is the very welcoming legal system for crypto investments, and for developing crypto technology and other digital technologies,” said Daher.
With this diversification-focused momentum from the UAE being met with similar initiatives from Saudi Arabia, Daher said: “This is the GCC and the Arab world’s time led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The leadership of both countries are the most business-oriented leaderships in the world and competition between them is healthy and friendly, just like it is between two equally-qualified brothers.”
“It is almost like the way the UAE has been leading this liberal, business and international-investors friendly environment has inspired Saudi Arabia, which is the number one economy in the region with huge infrastructure, to do the same,” he continued.
“What’s happening in Saudi Arabia is really very interesting in that a new country is being born, and there is plenty of opportunity for the entire world to be invested in it in the same way the entire world forged the UAE by being involved in setting up its infrastructure from healthcare to education,” said Daher.
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