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Dubai FDI highlights trends and opportunities [Arab News (Saudi Arabia)]
[March 09, 2014]

Dubai FDI highlights trends and opportunities [Arab News (Saudi Arabia)]


(Arab News (Saudi Arabia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) DUBAI: ARAB NEWSDubai FDI, the foreign investment agency in the Department of Economic Development (DED), has compiled summary reports on trends and opportunities across diverse sectors in Dubai to help investors worldwide and attract further attention to the ease and competitiveness of doing business in Dubai.



The reports cover such key sectors as logistics, retail, information technology, health care and green technology, and the prospects in each of these sectors in the backdrop of the ongoing economic development strategies adopted in the UAE and Dubai.

"As part of the UAE and as the hub of a region of vast economic potential, Dubai has moved to a new level where its approach to business and ambitions are attracting international attention. Dubai FDI focuses on enabling Dubai to capitalize on this global attention and attract businesses and investors to reap rich rewards by being in Dubai," said Fahad Al-Gergawi, CEO of Dubai FDI.


The report on the retail sector tracks the anticipated impact of increasing private consumption in the UAE — estimated to grow at an average of 7.8 percent by 2015 — along with that of high disposable incomes, retail real estate expansion, steady inflow of international retailers, population growth and rising fashion consciousness in the country, on retailing in Dubai.

Between 2012 and 2015, retail sales in the UAE is estimated to grow 32.9 percent, from AED114 billion to AED151 billion, according to the Dubai FDI report.

"The vital role of retailing in economic development along with the constant growth in demand makes the sector one of the most lucrative foreign investment prospects in Dubai," said Al-Gergawi.

Referring to Dubai's efficiency, viability and profitability as a logistics hub, the sector report states that ongoing expansion of the transport infrastructure has further brightened investment prospects in the logistics and related sectors in the emirate. Dubai is the world's third largest re-export hub and the UAE logistics market is expected to reach AED34.5 billion in 2014.

Being a vital element of a competitive freight network and located strategically in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region, Dubai provides the best connections to a quarter of the world's population and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of AED13.2 billion, which has tripled in size in the past decade.

Health care in Dubai is by far the best in the region and has also diversified into research and development, pharmaceutical production, equipment manufacturing as well as medical tourism, thus opening up for foreign investment and participation, says the report.

The population in the Middle East is estimated to cross 520 million by 2030 and the health care needs of the UAE alone is expected to reach nearly AED30 billion by 2015, which demands substantial investment in facility development and management in addition to private sector expertise in specialized research, diagnostics, therapies, education and training.

The report on information technology (IT) points to specialized industry clusters like Dubai Internet City and Dubai Silicon Oasis, which Dubai has developed with a view to enabling software developers, hardware manufacturers, service providers and network designers to capitalize on Dubai's location, high Internet penetration and focus on innovation. Quoting from recent studies, the report says that the IT spending in Dubai alone will hit AED5 billion in 2014.

The emergence of sustainability as a priority in government strategy and the potential it has created for investment in clean technologies are detailed in the report on Green Technology.

Dubai has pioneered renewable energy benchmarks in the region and has launched an Integrated Energy Strategy with a view to a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

The first phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park can produce 10 MW of electricity and by 2030, the park will produce 1,000 MW when all its phases will be completed.

(c) 2014 Arab News All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info, an Albawaba.com company

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