Local News

ABU DHABI / WAM Spanning crucial sectors, such as agriculture, housing, energy, transport, industry and health as well as social services, to date, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has allocated AED1.2 billion in Abu Dhabi government grants and concessionary loans to 18 development projects in Afghanistan. According to an ADFD country report marking Afghanistan’s Independence Day on August ...

DUBAI / WAM The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) and Ayedh Dejem Group, a conglomerate from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have agreed to develop and launch the Middle East’s first-ever Shariah-compliant spot gold contract to be traded on an international exchange. The partnership enables both entities to increase their presence in the Saudi Arabian and wider GCC Islamic ...

SHARJAH / wam The Sharjah FDI Forum 2017 will host a series of panel discussions conducted by regional and international investment experts. The annual foreign direct investment (FDI) event is held under the patronage of HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Taking place on September 19 and 20, the third Sharjah ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in co-operation with the Federal Tax Authority, has organised an awareness workshop on applying the tax system in the UAE, titled “VAT for Real Estate Sector and Registration Mechanism.” The workshop aimed at spreading awareness among real estate companies on the mechanism of applying value added tax (VAT) ...

Dubai / WAM The Dubai-based Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) attracted 267 new companies from 48 countries around the world, in first half (H1) of 2017, marking a growth of 6 percent compared to the same period last year. Maintaining its position as a preferred investment destination for large-scale industrial and commercial projects coming into the UAE, the free zone ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM UAE stock markets are back in the green on Wednesday after profit-booking over the past two days, amidst upbeat sentiments comparatively with the past few days. The marked improvement came after shares plummeted to mouthwatering levels, spurring a buying spree by institutions and individuals alike who mostly targeted banking and real estate equities. ADX General Index ...

Bloomberg The total value of monetary deposits at the UAE CentralBank amounted to AED123 billion during H1 2017, AED122.95 billion of which are in banknotes and AED50 million in coins. On a month-over-month basis, the deposits increased by 20.5 percent, rising from AED102 billion in May to AED123 billion in June, according to Central Bank statistics released recently. The month ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) is encouraging government officials, urban planners and developers to ‘push the boundaries of what is possible’ during a series of workshops on the Hudayriat Island Master Plan. The UPC held its second of five stakeholder workshops, which helped shape the concept master plan set to be submitted by the end ...

Dubai / Emirates Business As many as 801 construction projects with a combined estimated value of $32 billion (AED117.44 billion) are currently in tendering state in the GCC’s urban construction sector which will serve as a strong pipeline of projects to be awarded in the near future, according to BNC Network, the largest and most comprehensive project research and intelligence ...

AJMAN / WAM HH Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of Ajman and President of the Executive Council, praised the directives of Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to establish the world’s first Government Accelerators. Sheikh Ammar made this statement while viewing a presentation by ...