Abu Dhabi plans financial free zone, may resemble Dubai

The Economic Times 29 April
ABU DHABI: The oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi is putting finishing touches to plans to establish a financial free zone that could resemble, and therefore compete with, the Dubai International Financial Centre, sources familiar with the matter said.
A federal decree was passed by the United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan in February to create the area, known as the Abu Dhabi World Financial Market, on Al Maryah island, the sources told Reuters.
Detailed regulations covering the zone will be outlined shortly, an Abu Dhabi government source said, declining to be named under briefing rules.
“It will have all the offerings of a financial free zone – 100 percent foreign ownership, tax and capital repatriation, internationally accepted laws and regulations and other things,” the source said.
The UAE’s free zones are areas in which foreign companies can operate under light regulation, and where foreign investors are allowed to take 100 percent ownership in companies; outside the zones, they generally need to have local partners.
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