The UAE, a rising star in international business, has witnessed unprecedented developments in recent weeks.

After what seemed a roller-coaster bidding war for P&O, Dubai Ports World put up an offer its rival PSA International could not beat, giving it ownership of the British ports and ferry group.  Not long afterwards, came the announcement that the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter would be set up in Abu Dhabi.
The acquisition of P&O was accompanied by unprecedented controversy. After US politicians, mainly from the Democratic Party, objected on security grounds to the take over of six US ports in the deal, DP World sought a 45-day review by a US committee on foreign investments in the hope it would find no grounds for fears once the company took control of the ports.
The Abu Dhabi smelter, with a 1.2 million tonnes per year capacity, will come up in the Taweelah area of Abu Dhabi. It will be jointly owned by Mubadala Development, an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi Government, and the Dubai-government owned Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal). The first phase of the new smelter will become operational in 2010.  The two companies will jointly develop, construct, own and operate  the complex at Taeelah’s Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone.  Meanwhile, Dubal itself is implementing a project to raise its capacity to 861,000 tpy, which should make it the Middle East’s largest smelter.
Mubadala and Dubal have also signed a joint protocol that will explore prospects for developing projects in the aluminium industry in the upstream, production and marketing aspects.
The Abu Dhabi government has taken strong initiatives to develop industries in the emirate.  It expects to raise the tempo of investment and manufacturing following the enactment of a landmark law to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) by allowing 100 per cent ownership for investors in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD). 
The emirate’s Higher Corporation for Specialised Industrial Zones is implementing an initiative to create economic zones for basic metals, building products and construction materials, oil and gas services, agricultural and food services, paper and wood products, automotive industries, logistics services, high-end industries, financial services and pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries.
The ICAD has attracted Dh11 billion ($2.99 million) in investment into its first two stages. ICAD-1 has leased over 90 per cent of the plots and has attracted investments of Dh5 billion while ICAD-2 has attracted Dh6 billion investments, with 60 per cent of the area leased.
One of the major plants coming up in the city is Emirates Float Glass’ $193-million facility, which will have a capability to produce more than 160,000 tonnes of architectural, automotive, pyrolytic, coated and special products
Abu Dhabi will also be the site of a new facility to make air conditioning water chillers using Hitachi technical know how. The plant will be set up in Industrial City, Mussafah, by Gulf Air Conditioning Manufacturing Industries  (Gami), a member of the Gibca Group of Companies.
Products manufactured at the Gami factory will be marketed in the Middle East and North Africa region. The move will also provide Gami the opportunity to market the high-technology product at very competitive prices.
In Dubai, Dubai Industrial City (DIC) hopes to attract up to $2 billion in investment in the next five years. As many as 50 companies have already signed up to operate in the zone, which Dubai is pitching as a gateway to the booming economies of the Gulf. Promoters of DIC expect more than 500 companies to establish businesses when it becomes fully operational in five years. It is expected that these companies will contribute more than $2 billion to Dubai’s economy.
Another enclave, the Dubai Investments Park (DIP), recently signed a  $68 million syndicated loan facility for its expansion. The park is a multi-phased project being developed on a total land area of 3,200 hectares.  Its promoters, Dubai Investments, say the park is experiencing strong demand.  One of the companies joining the enclave lately was Gulf Jyoti International LLC (GJI), a joint venture company between Gulf Investment Corporation, Kuwait and Jyoti Structures Limited, India. It will be building a state-of-the-art transmission tower manufacturing facility.
The new facility will have the latest technology and equipment to enable the plant to achieve a production capacity of 33,000 tpy on a two-shift basis. The presence of a world-class manufacturing facility of this kind in the UAE is expected to significantly contribute to the country’s diverse business potential.
In the free zones sector,  the well-established Jebel Ali Free Zone, the Dubai Airport Free Zone (Dafz), the Sharjah International Airport Free Zone and Hamriyah Free Zone have all taken strong strides with blue-chip companies among the tenants.
A specialised zone for the automobile industry, to be known as Dubai Auto Zone, is being created within the Jebel Ali Free Zone. Dafz is currently negotiating management contracts with free zones in India and Africa. More than 710 companies are registered in Dafz.
At the Hamriyah Free Zone, a state-of-the-art job shop facility is being created by Tech International on a 20,000 sq m plot.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the second edition of SteelFab, the Middle East’s trade platform for manufacturers and distributors of machine tools, machinery, consumables and other items related to the steel working business.
The Ras Al Khaimah Free Zone has started a project to build sheds and warehouses in a bid to attract companies. Some 687 companies registered at the free zone during 2005, making it one of the region’s fastest-growing free zones. The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah has some key industries including RAK Ceramics and Julphar, the pharmaceuticals producer, as well as several cement facilities.
Among major existing companies, Ducab and Gulf Extrusions announced expansions.  Ducab, which is a leading manufacturer of high-quality power cables in the Middle East, has made a capital investment of Dh125 million to set up a copper rod casting plant at its Abu Dhabi facility.
Ducab reported that its revenues grew 30 per cent to Dh988 million in 2005 against revenues of Dh760 million in the previous year. Gulf Extrusions has added two more presses to raise production capacity to 65,000 tonnes from the current level of 30,000 tonnes of profiles. Gulf Extrusions produces aluminium sections in mill, silver and colour anodised (spectrum colours), gold dyed and powder-coated finishes.