United Arab Emirates

The UAE generally is open to foreign direct investment (FDI) citing it as a key part of its long term economic plans. The UAE Vision 2021 strategic plan aims to achieve FDI flows to the UAE of five percent of Gross National Product (GNP), a number one rank for the UAE in the global index for ease of doing business, and a place among the top 10 countries worldwide in the Global Competitiveness Index. UAE investment laws and regulations are evolving in support of the goal of creating an environment more conducive to foreign investment. However, current frameworks still favor local over foreign investors. While recently updated UAE laws validate the practice of foreign owned free zone companies operating "onshore," and permit majority GCC ownership of public joint stock companies, there remains no national treatment for investors in the UAE and foreign ownership of land and stocks is restricted. Non-tariff barriers to investment persist in the form of restrictive agency, sponsorship, and distributorship requirements.