Last month, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, unveiled the Dubai Strategic Plan (DSP) 2015. The DSP seeks to tackle different issues under distinct heads, which apart from economic development, infrastructure, land and environment and government excellence also includes social development and safety, security and justice. Special attention will be given to immigration policies, health insurance, high rentals, traffic jams, public transport and exploitation at work The service sector will be the key driving force for economic growth. Emphasis will also be laid on economic diversification for reduced dependence on the oil sector, which declined to 3% of the emirate’s GDP. Although DSP is featured as highly ambitious, given Dubai’s past record, it may well be possible for the government to achieve its target.

After Oman and Bahrain signed Free Trade Agreements with the USA, UAE and Qatar are also actively pursuing this direction. It is believed that a Free Trade agreement with the US will significantly increase trade with the world’s largest economy, although there are significant changes that will have to be made namely workers rights and opening of service and finance sectors to US corporations.

I am delighted to feature in this issue Mr. Sudhir Kumar Shetty, General Manager and COO of UAE Exchange Centre, under whose leadership the UAE Exchange Centre has achieved significant growth in the past ten years.

There are our usual updates on happenings in the UAE, PKF International and the Offshore World, Oman Update etc. I do hope you will enjoy reading our newsletter.

Please feel free to write (update@pkfuae.com) if you would like to express an opinion on any matters inside.

M.A. RAFI