Monday, Aug 08, 2016

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development (Added) announced on Monday it registered 4,787 new commercial licences during the first half of 2016, down around four per cent from the 4,970 commercial licences issued in the same period in 2015.

In the first quarter of this year, Added’s Abu Dhabi Business Centre issued 2,339 licences (down from 2,534 in Q1 2015), while the second quarter saw 2,448 new commercial licences issued ( up from 2,436 in Q2 2015).

In a statement on Monday, Added said the new licences in the first half of this year bring the total number of licences in Abu Dhabi to 110,445.

The figures were released as part of the Business Centre’s biannual report of 2016, which said that of the 110,445 commercial licences in the emirate, the majority (70,000 licences) were in Abu Dhabi city.

There were also 31,057 licences in the Eastern Region of Al Ain, and 9,388 licences in the Western Region.

The report said that the licences for individual establishments accounted for most of the commercial licences (3,466 licences), followed by limited liability companies (922 licences), and branch licences (327 licences).

There were also 109 licences for one-person companies, three licences for partnership companies, and three licences of public shareholding companies.

Khalifa Al Mansouri, Added’s acting undersecretary, said that the ongoing registration of new businesses “despite the negative effects and crises in the global markets reflects the genuine interest shown by local and foreign businessmen and investors in seizing economic opportunities in Abu Dhabi.”

He added that the Department is aiming to develop the commercial activity system in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in line with the objectives set out by the Economic Vision 2030.

The Abu Dhabi Business Centre had recently announced a 50 per cent reduction in the average number of procedures businesses have to take to get commercial licensing. The Centre also reduced the number of days required to start a business by 50 per cent, and the cost of issuing a commercial licence by 30 per cent.

Work is currently underway to finalise a unified commercial licensing system for various commercial licences in Abu Dhabi by next year.

Staff Report

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