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36 Special Report
Reaching out to potential companies and investors all around the world
RAK Free Zone
Oussama El Omari
CEO and Director General of the RAK FTZ
The Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone
(RAK FTZ) has reported 190 per cent
growth in the number of companies
registered with the zone last year (2006),
during which the zone has attracted capital
investments worth of Dhs 3.3 billions.
A total of 1,307 new companies have
registered with RAK FTZ during the year
2006, bringing the total number of
registered companies with zone so far to
2,653. Addressing a press conference the
RAK FTZ held recently at the RAK
Hilton to announce the zone's Annual
Report, Oussama El Omari, CEO and
Director General of the RAK FTZ, said
that because of the guidance and support
of H.H Sheikh Faisal bin Saqr Al Qasimi,
Chairman of the RAK FTZ, the zone has
managed to build a wide international
reputation and ended up one of the most
attractive free trade zones in the entire region.
One of the factors of the international
exposure of RAK FTZ is the number of
the international marketing campaigns
that the zone conducted, which has
reached more that 23 in 2006. He added
that the zone's strategic plan that is based
on reaching out to potential investors
and companies all around the world to
promote the state of the art services and
facilities has proved to be a real success.
In the year of 2006, the highest ever
reported numbers of business
delegations from around the world have
visited the RAK FTZ which has helped
strengthening the bilateral relations
between the zone and other international
“
RAK FTZ aims at
achieving 35 per cent growth
in 2007 and enhancing the
services and facilities to
attract major international
companies
”
entities. Most of the companies registered
with the RAK FTZ during 2006 were
from the Middle East comprising 31 per
cent of the total number of the registered
companies, Asia came second on list with
30 per cent, Europe (27 per cent), North
America (7 per cent) and companies from
other parts of the world (5 per cent).
The RAK FTZ management believes that
the real investment is in the human
resources. The zone, which has currently
more than 200 multinational employees, also
implements successful nationalization
programs which improve the employees'
work performance by enhancing their
knowledge and skills. The zone has
offered remarkable job opportunities for
UAE nationals to encourage the local
human resources, said El Omari.
He stressed that many of the recruited
local employees have been promoted to
senior positions depending on their skills
and work performance. In addition to
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