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published on 28 June 2022 | reading time approx. 4 minutes
The following provides a brief overview about the latest business, economic and legal news from all around the United Arab Emirates and GCC region.
Under the umbrella of the Saudi Vision 2030 that supports Saudi Arabia’s efforts of continuously diversifying its economy away from oil by pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into diversified economies the government is planning to attract $32 billion of investments into the mining sector. The kingdom’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has stated that it has secured $6 billion for a steel plate mill complex with which it targets to fund nine mining projects for midstream minerals and metals as announced by HE Minister of Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef. The biggest of these nine projects will be a $4 billion steel plate mill complex for the shipbuilding, oil and gas, construction, and defense sectors as well as a ‘green’ flat steel complex aiming at supplying the automotive, machinery and equipment, food packaging amongst other industrial sectors. A further project is the $2 billion EV battery metals plant. All the three mentioned projects are already underway. According to the Ministry the financial input and funding of the projects would create more than 14,000 jobs. Furthermore, it would further attract foreign direct and indirect investment into the kingdom. The Ministry is currently processing 145 exploration license applications from foreign companies. The Minister was quoted “These targeted investments represent an important down payment in our efforts to move beyond exploration and extraction and into the creation of integrated value chains, a central focus of our overall mining strategy. The investments will continue to position the Kingdom as a mining production and logistics hub for a region that stretches from Africa to Asia, while also supporting the transformation of our mining sector so it can achieve its potential.”
In 2021, the mining sector in Saudi Arabia has achieved record revenues of $194 million. The Saudi Arabian government has been actively amending the legislation regulating the mining sector to provide more attractive incentives and a more structured environment for local and foreign investors, keeping in mind that the mining sector is stimulating more investments worth SR120 billion in addition the already secured $6 billion. A main objective of pushing the mining sector is the goal of economic diversification and the therewith related mining sector’s contribution to economic growth and job creation.
In October 2021, the UAE have launched its strategic initiative for net-zero emissions by 2050 aiming at becoming the first country in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) with such a strategic initiative. Under the UAE government umbrella, the Dubai government has followed by launching its Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 which aims at providing 100 percent of its total power capacity from clean energy sources. DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) is frontrunner in helping this initiative to be achieved. Its mega project, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, with an intended capacity of 5000 MW and estimated investments of up to 50 billion AED will be the biggest single-site solar park in the world. By 2030, once the Solar Park will be completed, it aspires to reduce over 6,5million tons of carbon emissions per annum. The Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, Saeed Al Tayer, was quoted “The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, is our biggest project to achieve this vision. It has a planned capacity of 5000 MW by 2030. The current capacity at the solar park is 1527 MW using photovoltaic solar panels. DEWA is implementing more projects with a total capacity of 1333 MW using solar photovoltaic and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) in addition to future phases to reach 5000 MW by 2030. The clean energy capacity share is currently around 11,4 per cent of Dubai’s energy mix and is expected to reach around 14 per cent by the end of 2022.” He added that “At DEWA, we work in line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to promote sustainability and innovations and transform into a sustainable green economy. This is achieved by increasing the share of clean and renewable energy in line with the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy to provide 100 per cent of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.” Foreign investors, under Dubai’s regulatory framework of allowing the private sector to participate in energy production projects, have been encouraged to take part in this project as noted by Al Tayer. Through the IPP (Independent Power Producer) Model DEWA has already attracted investments worth approximately 40 billion AED in public-private partnerships. Furthermore, for the fifth consecutive time, Dubai has received the lowest solar energy prices which make Dubai a global benchmark for solar power prices.
In the annual ‘Dubai FDI Results and Rankings Highlights Report 2021 Dubai has been ranked first as opposed to third last year. This means that Dubai is first globally in attracting foreign investment with 418 greenfield FDI projects as stated by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council. Dubai’s report is based on data published by the ‘Dubai FDI Monitor’, which regularly tracks and provides analysis on all types of FDI projects into Dubai. Moreover, in 2021 Dubai has maintained its main position in key FDI attraction metrics which equals the third position globally in FDI capital inflows (as compared to fourth in 2020) and it ranked fifth globally with regard to FDI employment creation (as compared to 6th last year). The report furthermore demonstrates that Dubai showed strong growth in all sectors covered – greenfield FDI projects, Mergers and Acquisitions, venture capital backed FDI, FDI Reinvestment projects, Joint-Ventures, as well as New Forms of Investments. Compared to 2020 in 2021, Dubai witnessed a growth of 5,5 per cent regarding FDI capital flows into Dubai with an expected amount more than 26 billion AED. In 2021 saw an increase by 36 per cent both of FDI projects as well as job creation from FDI: In 2021 FDI inflow created 24,868 jobs as compared to 18,325 jobs in 2020. Dubai has also attracted 43 headquarters FDI projects to be locate in the Emirate. The success in all these sectors is a result of the successful strategy by the leadership and the UAE government’s efforts to promote public-private sector partnerships – locally and internationally, to highly develop the infrastructure of specialized free zones as well as making FDI more attractive by putting more incentives for foreign investors such as adopting legislation to encourage and facilitate investments.
Nicola Lohrey
Managing Partner
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