The East and West blend quite happily, side by side in Dubai's social arena. Dubai has branded itself as the most happening place for tourists with its dozens of signature restaurants and trendy hotels. HH Sh. Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, The Ruler of Dubai stated recently that only 10% of his vision has been visible to us. So what a ride we are in for!



Dubai, one of the 7 emirates that form the United Arab Emirates, is a income, corporate and wealth tax free nation. For years it has been known as a shopper's paradise.

It started as sea faring, pearl recovering, poor nation. But the visons of Sheikh Rashid and then his son, Sheikh Mohammed, have driven this small emirate, first to export gold and electronics to various high import tax countries, then to become a trading hub and banking center for South Asia, East Europe and most of Africa people.

Now it is poised to take its place as an international financial center, a health care hub for the Middle East, and a leisure destination for the world. This emirate will become the Switzerland of the Middle East for banking, and Monaco, for the rich and famous who want to live in a tax haven.

So you can ask yourself: Why am I not there?

But consider the business dynamics. Dubai is located in the Middle East exactly in the center time zone between Singapore and London, the only country with the vision to become the financial center between these 2 major financial centers.

It is surrounded by a target market cachement area of more than 1 billion Arab speakers and another billion South Asians. Which just happens to be one of the fastest growing markets in the world. A Dubai formation allows you to tap into this market from Dubai, a nation with a well developed communication and transport infrastructure apart from an internationally accepted banking system. All this right in the middle of various politically troubled countries.

This emirate is in the center of a prosperous market. Over the years, it has established good trading links with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and neighboring markets. A Dubai formation offers excellent port and airport facilities in terms of size, flexibility and efficiency and can be considered to be the best in the region.

The strength and dependability of its shipping and transportation sector has attracted leading freight forwarders, shipping companies and insurance companies. In fact a Dubai Logistics City on the border of the largest airport are currently under construction in Dubai!

A Dubai formation with its pro business government policies is ideal regarding establishing of regional headquarters of companies. It is one of the most liberal regulatory governments and it offers features that are very conductive to trade.

9/11 has been a key driver for the change in Dubai. After 9/11, as the West became more stringent in doing due diligence for Arab travelers and granting of visas became limited, the oil prices began to sky rocket. But the rulers of the Middle East no longer were enamored with investing in the US or Europe and started looking at creating investment opportunities in their own backyards.

Freehold real estate was born. Now sand could be rapidly converted to gold! The maximum number of licenses being issued for Dubai formations, which used to be for trading in the past are now for something to do with real estate.

Forming a corporation in the UAE is not only challenging but rewarding too. The challenges can be termed as

a) procedures related to business formation are not so clear,

b) establishment fees charged by the government are very high

c) the UAE bureaucracy is considered to be opaque.

However global entrepreneurs get incorporation help in terms of local corporation tax waiver on their profits thereby enabling them to earn tax free profits on their Dubai formation through the various double tax treaties.

As it is a highly competitive economy business setup in UAE requires high capital investments.

The International Institute For Management Development report 2005, Dubai ranked as the 17th most competitive economy of the world.

Investors should have a minimum budget of US $ 50,000 for forming a corporation in the UAE. Business setup in UAE takes between nine to 14 weeks of time and it largely depends on the type of company that is to be formed.

As it is considered as a developed country with its overall life expectancy, literacy, education and living standards (as per United Nations Human Development Index) and with the incorporation help that it provides in the form of free zones to foreign investors desirous of 100% ownership, UAE is the perfect destination for global entrepreneurs for Dubai formation of companies.