With 9% of the earth’s known oil reserves and almost 5% of its natural gas, the UAE enjoys one of the highest per-capita GDP rates in the world. Most of this hydrocarbon wealth is located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, which occupies 87% of the country’s total landmass. While in the past this resource wealth led to a narrow, oil-based economy, the government has embarked on an economic diversification program that seeks to increase the non-oil share of the economy from 41% to 64% by 2030. According to the International Monetary Fund, the UAE’s GDP nearly doubled in the three years following 2003, rising from $52 billion to $97.8 billion, and this was before the start of Abu Dhabi’s development program. Abu Dhabi accounts for about 60% of the UAE’s economic activity, and has been a major factor in the country’s overall success. While the global financial turmoil has affected growth going forward, the UAE is still expected to achieve positive growth, while economies in much of the rest of the world are likely to contract or remain flat. Trade in goods and services is a major

component of the country’s economic activity, earning the UAE a place among the top 30 trading economies in the world, as the UAE’s foreign trade in 2007 surged 33% to $150 billion. In 2008, Abu Dhabi’s total foreign trade (imports, exports and re-exports of non-oil products) increased 37.5% over 2007 to $28 billion, despite difficult global conditions in the latter part of the year. Abu Dhabi’s comprehensive economic development and diversification program seeks, among other goals, to create a business environment that offers opportunities to UAE nationals and expatriates alike; to build a sustainable, high-value-added economy; to expand Abu Dhabi’s industrial base; to develop the professional services sector in fields such as tourism, education, media and banking & finance; and to further integrate Abu Dhabi into the global economy. Businesses in the emirate enjoy a tax-free environment, access to inexpensive industrial inputs such as energy and certain base materials, a modern transport and information infrastructure, and numerous free zones offering 100% foreign ownership.