The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) launched an initiative to support innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in the region. Although introduced in August 2020 we are now seeing this licensing model successfully in operation for numerous clients.

The city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia was the first stop on a visit to the Middle East by the Director of InvestChile, Andrés Rodríguez Rowe, together with the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Rodrigo Yáñez. In efforts to attract foreign investment to Chile, they met with Saudi officials and sovereign wealth funds. The goal is to showcase opportunities in Chile in sectors such as energy, infrastructure and green hydrogen.

On 26 January 2021, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, issued a royal decree requiring all public joint stock companies established in the UAE which have over half of their assets or profits derived from business activities in Dubai, to be listed on either the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) or Nasdaq Dubai (together, the Local Markets). If they are not already listed on a Local Market, they must do so by January 2022.

Travel Professionals call it the MICE industry. MICE stands for Meeting and Incentive. MICE has been dead since COVID-19 broke out with ITB Berlin cancelling in March 2020. Now Reed Expo is setting a trend to make Travel Industry

With the first week of January behind us, we are all in anticipation of what is to come, and there are a few things brewing in Central Asia.

<p> <img src="/uploads/content/images/202011/1605150508_66999.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="215" title="" align="" /> </p> <p> Saudi Arabia’s National Data Management Office (NDMO), the entity responsible for data governance in the Kingdom, has recently issued National Data Governance Interim Regulations (Interim Regulations). The Interim Regulations address...

Following the issuance of Royal Decree No. 121/2020, Oman published its new VAT Law in the Official Gazette on 18 October 2020 (“Oman VAT Law”). VAT will be imposed in Oman at the standard rate of 5% in accordance with the unified GCC VAT Agreement effective from 16 April 2021, making Oman the fourth GCC country to implement VAT after the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) and Bahrain.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (“MHRSD”) has issued Ministerial Resolution number 28889 dated 18/2/1442H corresponding to 5 October 2020 (the “Resolution”) which will localise certain information and communication technology (“ICT”) roles in the private sector. The Resolution will come into effect on 17/11/1442H corresponding to 27 June 2021. This follows the decisions relating to the Saudisation of a number of dentistry...

All healthcare facilities licensed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (“DOH”) are required to participate in the Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange (“HIE”), Malaffi.

Saudi Arabia is undergoing significant reform, orientated at galvanising the country through its process of large scale regeneration and modernisation as the authorities pursue their strategic vision to move the Kingdom away from its historical reliance on oil.