Why does Romania support DUBAI 2020?

Businesspeople in Romania see the United Arab Emirates (EAU) as a bridge towards emerging markets in the entire world, and especially in the Middle East, especially as the Western world will provide increasingly fewer opportunities for business and growth in the coming 10-20 years.

Geographically, the United Arab Emirates are located in area which is easily and quickly accessible through several airlines, including FlyDubai, the low-cost company with the quickest and most impressive development in the last decades, in terms of the number of destinations and the flow of passengers. Pragmatically focused on destinations which have potential for business, FlyDubai entered the Romanian market in October 2012, precisely because it has intuited the potential of the Romanian private sector, as clearly proven by the formal and informal discussions with FlyDubai officials.

The people in the Emirates like Romania and have praised Romania and its resources, including the human resource. The problem they face, however, is the excessive bureaucracy from the authorities, the complicated and difficult circuits when it comes to concluding certain businesses, and certain obsolete practices of the authorities which are in charge of issuing the documents necessary for initiating a business, and these things often discourage the people of the Emirates and cause them to leave. The businesspeople of the Emirates expect businesses to be guaranteed by the Romanian state, just like it happens in the United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, the often complicated and unclear communication style of the Romanian authorities and the lack of knowledge when it comes to business culture, concerning the manners needed in the interaction with the oriental world, cause many businesses to fail, as proven from the subtle observations that some businesspeople from the Emirates make, in informal discussions where they present their experiences in Romania and they express their regret that they can't succeed in a country which is so beautiful and with such an extraordinary potential which they feel close ties to, both geographically and culturally.

The United Arab Emirates are the country where the ethic and oriental culture merge exceptionally with the business style of the 21st century. Only 10% of the population is Emirates, as the remaining 90% are expats, something which confirms the openness and visionary approach of the UAE leaders. The country's business policy is permissive and liberal. Even though there is the myth that the UAE and the Gulf countries in general have an excellent economic situation due to the oil, the UAE policies prove that it is not just oil but also the visionary approach which ensures success. The Dubai Emirate makes only 40% of its GDP from oil, as the remaining 60% comes from its extraordinary transports infrastructure, as the Dubai airport has one of the biggest annual passenger flows (about 56 million in 2012 for example) and logistics, services and tourism. Dubai is an international hub for business, hosting an impressive number of international fairs and exhibitions annually. Even though the impression is that the UAE is a location of luxury, the authorities' policy is to create chances and opportunities for all businesspeople, not just for those of higher means, so that small entrepreneurs who come today to the UAE have their own lanes of costs and accessibility, thus being encouraged towards future development and towards advertising the Emirates business environment.

According to the report of the World Bank, on a scale of 1 to 185, the UAE rank 26th when it comes to business facilities. A maximum of 15 days are required to start a business in the UAE and the procedures are light because the UAE emirate is doing everything it can to encourage expats to open companies in the UAE. This is proven by the continued reduction of the bureaucratic procedures, as the same report of the World Bank indicates the fact that in 2012, only 5 documents were needed for imports and only 4 for exports. The type of company possible for expats is the mixed one, where 51% of the equity is owned by an UAE citizen, the sponsor, but the profit can be divided according to the shareholders' agreement.

The state's control is minimal. There are no direct taxes on profits or personal revenues, and customs taxes are 4% and there are cases where there tax exemptions which allow 100% repatriation of profits. The costs of doing business are minimal compared to other countries.

The main sectors of interest for the federal government of the UAE are energy, tourism, finance, transportation and logistics, construction, education and healthcare.

Romanian citizens need a visa to go to the UAE but this is more of a formality because the UAE are a country which keeps strict records of the entries and exits and this contributes heavily to the security of the East, as the UAE is the fourth most secure country in the world.