DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will allow up to 100% foreign ownership of some companies operating in 13 sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and renewable energy, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday.
The UAE cabinet has approved 122 economic activities across 13 sectors eligible for up to 100% foreign ownership, WAM said. It did not say when the decision was made.
Gulf state UAE last year approved a new foreign investment law that would allow foreigners to own more than 49 percent and up to 100 percent in some UAE businesses.
Officials later said a full list of which sectors and activities the law would apply to would be published in the first quarter of 2019.
Other sectors and activities where up to 100% foreign ownership will now be permitted include space, transportation, hospitality, and professional, scientific and technical activities, according to WAM.
The full list of sectors and activities the law applies to was not included in the WAM report.
Local governments are to determine how much foreign investors can own in each activity, WAM reported, suggesting some emirates could apply different limits to foreign ownership in the same sector or activity.
The government previously said several sectors and activities would be excluded from changes in the foreign investment law, including oil and gas production and exploration, land and air transport, and security and military.
The foreign ownership law is one of a series of economic reforms aimed at spurring investment and attracting foreign investors amid an economic slowdown in the Gulf.
Foreigners could already own up to 100% of businesses registered in designated business parks known as “free zones.”
UAE approves 13 sectors eligible for up to 100% foreign ownership — WAM
UAE approves 13 sectors eligible for up to 100% foreign ownership — WAM
- The UAE cabinet has approved 122 economic activities across 13 sectors eligible for up to 100% foreign ownership
Zelensky says Russia using Belarus territory to circumvent Ukrainian defenses
- While President Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia was using ordinary apartment blocks on the territory of its ally Belarus to attack Ukrainian targets and circumvent Kyiv’s defenses.
The Kremlin used Belarusian territory to launch its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Belarus remains a steadfast ally, though longstanding President Alexander Lukashenko has vowed to commit no troops to the conflict.
“We note that the Russians are trying to bypass our defensive interceptor positions through the territory of neighboring Belarus. This is risky for Belarus,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram after a military staff meeting.
“It is unfortunate that Belarus is surrendering its sovereignty in favor of Russia’s aggressive ambitions.”
Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence had observed that Belarus was deploying equipment to carry out its attacks “in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings.
“Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-story apartment buildings, which help guide ‘Shaheds’ (Russian drones) to targets in our western regions. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this.”
The Russian and Belarusian defense ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zelensky said the staff meeting also discussed ways of financing interceptor drones, which officials in Kyiv see as the best economically viable means of tackling Russian drone attacks, which have grown in intensity in recent months.
The president said the Ukrainian military’s general staff had been charged with working out changes to strategy in fending off air attacks “to defend infrastructure and frontline positions.”
Lukashenko this month said Russia’s Oreshnik ballistic missile system, described by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as impossible to intercept, had been deployed to Belarus and entered active combat duty.
An assessment by two US researchers, reported by Reuters on Friday, said Moscow was likely stationing the nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik at a former air base in eastern Belarus, a development that could bolster Russia’s ability to deliver missiles across Europe.
