The Dubai government has to offer expats a route to citizenship to help achieve its aim of becoming a global financial and business hub.
That is the view of Bloomberg president Daniel Doctoroff, who was speaking at the inaugural MENASA Forum in Dubai.
"In order to compete on a global scale, a path to citizenship is critical," Doctoroff said.
"At present foreigners can do very well, they can own property and live here freely, but they cannot be on the path to citizenship.
"With such stringent residency requirements, it is difficult to get expatriates truly invested in Dubai."
However, Deepak Tolani, an analyst at Al Mal Capital, told 7DAYS he disagreed with Doctoroff.
"I don't think that was a [factor] in attracting people who came here in hordes when the DIFC opened up," he said.
"Professionals are still coming to Dubai and will come in the future without having the permanent residency."
Tolani added that he didn't think the Dubai government would ever offer expats a route to citizenship. "Transparency, governance, regulation, more telling people what is happening on the ground these are more important than the citizenship question," he said.
Doctoroff, who is also a former deputy mayor of New York, also called for greater transparency and regulation in the financial sector.
However, the governor of the DIFC said, at the same forum, that shortcomings in the financial system were being addressed.
"The UAE is introducing a programme to address regulatory and legal shortcomings in our financial system," Ahmed Al Tayer said.
...while the emirate is to centralise debt decisions
Dubai plans to set up a debt management unit to centralise decisions on debt, after the UAE Government issues a public debt management law later this year. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee, said that the Committee would establish a "programme to address vulnerabilities in [Dubai's] financial system".
"At a federal level, urgent steps are being taken to address the gaps in the UAE's legal and regulatory infrastructure," he added.
"The government... will establish a debt management office to coordin-ate the raising of debt for government-related entities. A similar debt man-agement unit is planned to be set up in Dubai to centralise debt decision making."
Speaking at the inaugural MENASA Forum in Dubai, Sheikh Ahmed also said that it was a "policy priority" for the UAE to reform and moder-nise its "insolvency framework", or bankruptcy system.
"A clear framework for the financial restructuring and reorganisation of companies, based on international principles, is being put in place," he said.
© 7Days 2010
