UAE govt plans to remove monopolies of some family businesses

The UAE aims to attract more investment via competitive legal and social changes, such as long-term residency programmes and fewer restrictions on cohabitation and alcohol

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government plans to deepen economic reforms to attract more investment. As part of the reforms, the state told some of its biggest business families that it plans to remove their monopolies on the sale of imported goods, the Financial Times reported.

According to existing commercial agency agreements, foreign companies were required to appoint local partners to distribute their goods. The government has now proposed legislation to end the automatic renewal of existing agreements that will give multinationals the flexibility to distribute their own goods or change their local agent on expiry of the respective contracts.

Officials indicated