UAE CRAFTING NEW LAWS TO BOOST BUSINESS SECTOR

By Abdul Muin Majid

DUBAI, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to unveil
a new set of laws to further enhance the country's business environment.

UAE's Economy Minister Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said the ministry was
putting the final touches to Competition Law, Companies Law, Auditors Law,
Foreign Investment Law, Industry and Industry Ownership Laws, Certificate of
Origin Law, Anti-Fraud Law and the draft of the Arbitration Law.

"We believe that the new regulations will help us address concerns regarding
commercial regulations and arbitration, and promote efficiency, transparency,
and investor confidence in the business sector," he told a gathering of
businessmen organised by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

Elaborating, Al Mansouri said the Competition Law had been finalised by the
ministerial legal committee and would now be sent to the cabinet.

"The law will encourage competition and curb monopoly practices in line with
the recommendations of the World Trade Organisation during its last review of
the trade policy regime of the UAE," he explained.

The minister said the new Companies Law would make it mandatory for
companies in the UAE to put in place a general corporate governance framework to
ensure protection for shareholder's rights, transparency and disclosure.

According to him, all these laws being drafted encompassed lessons from the
past, realities of the present and goals for the future.

"The visionary leadership of the UAE has continued to invest in this
country's social and economic infrastructure even through the most difficult
period for its economy," he said.

The UAE is Malaysia's largest trading partner in West Asia. A sizeable
number of Malaysian companies also have operations in this Gulf nation.
-- BERNAMA