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Dubai among top 10 business locations

DUBAI - Dubai is among the top 10 most popular business locations in the world with more than half of the biggest global conglomerates operating offices in the city, CB Richard Ellis, or CBRE, said on Wednesday.

In a new report that maps the global office footprint of 280 major international companies, across 101 countries and 232 cities, the real estate consultancy firm found Dubai outclassing established business hubs such as Milan and Bangkok. The rankings compared global cities by the number of international firms operating offices there, using 280 companies as a benchmark.

Of those companies profiled, just over half (56.1 per cent) have an office presence in Dubai ranking it in ninth place overall, while the UAE as a whole was ranked 15^th in the country ranking, with 171 companies present (61.1 per cent).

The CBRE report is in the wake of a recent “Investor Attitudes” survey by Friends Provident International which showed that investor confidence has been at its highest level in the UAE and Singapore for the past one year regardless of the political and economic turmoil witnessed across the globe during the same period.

The CBRE report, “Business Footprints – Global Office Locations”, ranks Hong Kong, which is home to 68.2 per cent of companies surveyed, as the world’s number one business location, followed by Singapore (67.5 per cent) and Tokyo (63.9 per cent), while London is ranked the fourth most popular business location in the world (63.2 per cent. The top five is completed by Shanghai (61.4 per cent).

The report compares the global office presence of companies across a range of different sectors. Notably, in the Industrial Goods and Services sector, Dubai ranks 7^th globally, with 23 of the companies surveyed present. This represents 70 per cent of the total amount. This is down to the fact that Dubai often serves as a regional headquarters for companies, who control nearby production facilities from there.

Dubai has emerged as a ‘gateway’ city between Europe and the Far East and as a base for conducting business in places such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Arguably it challenges Singapore in its global role. Nick Maclean, managing director of CB Richard Ellis Middle East, said Dubai has a relatively balanced tenant mix. “Over the past 10 years the city has been designed and constructed with the specific intention of attracting major international firms from a broad range of sectors.”

“While a number of government initiatives and tax breaks have helped do this, it is the creation of an integrated air and sea transport hub and regionally important financial centre which has created a strong resident talent pool, without which internationalisation would have been impossible,” Maclean added. While Dubai is ranked as the ninth most popular business location overall, Warsaw is 12^th, reflecting the fact that both have developed into strategic business hubs in their region.

issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com