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DED issues 30pc more
business licences in Q1

DUBAI — Dubai continued to attract foreign investment into the emirate as the business licences issued by the emirate recorded a 30 per cent rise during the first quarter, compared to the same period last year.

The Dubai Department of Economic Development, DED, issued 3,584 licences for several types of businesses in the first quarter of 2010. A majority of the licences was issued in the commercial sector (2,752) followed by the professional sector (749), tourism (42) and industry (41).

“The quarterly report confirms the success of our initiatives and procedures, and affirms the growing investor interest in undertaking diverse businesses in Dubai. DED provides a varied and integrated bouquet of services to ensure time and cost savings for our clients. These services are tailored to meet all their requirements effectively,” DED Director-General Sami Al Qamzi said.

Readymade garments led the list of the top-10 licensed activities in the commercial category with 465 licences issued, followed by ‘perfumes and cosmetics’ with 381 and general trade with 344. Restaurants led the list of the top-10 licensed activities in the professional category with 117 licences issued in the first quarter, followed by ‘residences and building cleaning services’ with 96 and ‘café’ and ‘men’s barber’ with 51 for each.

In tourism activities, ‘travel agencies’ and ‘internal tourism organisers’ led the list with 15 licences each, followed by ‘hotels’ with 9 and ‘Leasing of hotel apartments’ with four licences. In industrial activities, ‘Blacksmithing and welding workshops’ led the list of the top 10 licensed activities with five licences followed by ‘metal work industry for construction’, ‘turnery’ and ‘ships and boats repair’ with four licences for each.

The Intlaq scheme, an initiative by the DED to encourage more UAE nationals to set up businesses from home, recorded strong performance with 552 licences issued in the first quarter of the year, a 91 per cent increase over the same period last year.

The largest growth was recorded in the trade category followed by professional category.

The total number of transactions during first quarter of 2010 reached 89,787 compared to 79,930 in the same quarter last year, a 21 per cent increase. The number of amended licences reached 10,851 compared to 9,842 during the same period last year, a 10 per cent increase. 
— abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com