Dubai: Ajman Free Zone (AFZ) has identified five new key markets where it will set up hub offices this year as part of its global investor outreach strategy geared at attracting investment into the UAE from abroad.
In a statement on Sunday, AFZ said the expansion of the free zone’s global footprints follows its highly successful earlier endeavours in attracting investors into the UAE from different parts of the world across Asia, Africa and Europe, something that has resulted in the free zone housing over 22,000 enterprises.
“AFZ has sourced considerable overseas investment into the free zone, out of which a substantial share is FDI [foreign direct investment] sourced by the free zone’s nine global offices across the world. Over the years, the unique selling points of AFZ as an investment destination — particularly its investor-friendly smart solutions have been widely acknowledged by global investors,” stated Mahmoud Al Hashemi, director-general of the AFZ.
The new AFZ global offices this year will be in Azerbaijan, China, Switzerland, Canada and Hong Kong. Earlier this year in May, AFZ opened its office in Cyprus. The Moscow office was opened in November last year.
“Our international offices help us reach out to potential investors on a sustainable basis. Geographically, AFZ has been registering a lot more diversity in the uptake of our smart investment packages which are tailor-made for start-ups, e-commerce firms and SMEs — and we have been registering increasing global interest, particularly from companies looking to have nimble marketing hub set-ups in this region”, he said.
He added that AFZ was a pioneer in offering easy investment options to investors, such as varied instalment options from one or two payment frequencies up to 12 monthly instalments, in addition to offering both smart offices and warehouse space — which are scalable upwards whenever investors are ready to expand.
“Our global strategy of investment sourcing is unique. We chose markets where AFZ sees potential after a thorough study assessing the investment appetite of companies in these markets, particularly in a context of their global expansion plans focused on the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and the Indian sub-continent, or markets in the geographical proximity to the UAE. AFZ offers an excellent hub and vantage point for these global companies to grow their business,” said Faisal Al Nuaimi, AFZ deputy director-general.
