Dubai Diary – Day 1 & 2 (Jan. 2nd and Jan. 3rd)

Sorry for the delay in starting the diary. The last 2 days have been a whirl wind and I am trying to overcome a number of factors including tiredness, culture shock, and a little stress from the amount of work being done and that which still needs to be done. Enough whining from me though, the weather is beautiful here! Mid-70’s, with a light breeze, bright and sunny (sorry to those reading from D.C., I hear it’s cold)!

The flight went well. I slept through about 8 of the 12 hours, and apparently through some pretty severe turbulence (I received an e-mail from United about it yesterday). I landed in Dubai at 8:30pm (Dubai time, EST is 9 hours behind) with 3 of my other classmates and 1 of my professors. All of our bags made it with us except Dr. Dyer’s golf clubs! Needless to say he wasn’t too happy.

I got to my room around 11 in just enough time to shower and shave before my roommate (we are having to share a suite, ridiculous for the amount of money we paid for this program) came in and said we are going out for a drink. We went to the Sheraton Hotel (all of the bars HAVE to be located in a hotel by law) and found the Chelsea Pub, a mock British Pub. Had a few Tiger Beers and decided to call it a night back at our hotel (Le Meridien). Since I had slept on the plane I didn’t get much sleep that night and it killed me the next day.

As I eluded to in my previous post, we went to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), both of these visits were informative if not a little on the dull side. It was good to get the insight of doing business in Dubai from the perspective of those who are trying to shape it. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce’s role is to facilitate the operation of business in Dubai including registering companies, granting licenses, providing import/export documents, and generally providing aid to the businesses of Dubai. It is the goal of the UAE to become one of the easiest countries in the Middle East to open and operate a business. To facilitate this they provide online company registries, Free Trade Zones, No Repatriation Costs, and excellent infrastructure. The morning concluded with a tour of the DCC.

From the DIFC’s website, their goal is to attract financial firms from all over the world, who are interested in operating in the Middle East to start a base of operation at the DIFC. The DIFC focuses on several sectors of financial activity: Banking and Brokerage (Investment Banking, Corporate Banking & Private Banking); Capital Markets (Equity, Debt Instruments, Derivatives and Commodity Trading); Wealth Management (Asset Management, Fund Registration and Family Office); Reinsurance and Captives; Islamic Finance & Ancillary Services. Financial institutions may apply for licenses in the above sectors. Firms operating in the DIFC are eligible for benefits such as a zero tax rate on profits, 100 per cent foreign ownership, no restrictions on foreign exchange or repatriation of capital, operational support and business continuity facilities.

After a quick, and much needed 3-hour nap, (and almost missing the bus) we went on a moonlit sonata dinner cruise on a traditional Emirati boat. We traveled up the Dubai Creek and ate some traditional Emirati food which is very similar in nature to Lebanese and Indian cuisine. It was very good but the highlight had to be the deserts which were excellent. We had started the night with dates and Arabic coffee which was also wonderful. Our cruise lasted about 2 hours, which was more than enough considering the lack of sleep the night before. A very entertaining and insightful day, I will post some pictures after the jump.