In Gulf’s Tug-of-War Over Multinationals, #UAE Looks to Keep Edge - Bloomberg

In Gulf’s Tug-of-War Over Multinationals, UAE Looks to Keep Edge - Bloomberg

The United Arab Emirates can stand its ground against Saudi Arabia’s effort to redraw the Gulf’s corporate map by enticing multinationals to move their headquarters to Riyadh, according to Abu Dhabi’s Investment Office.

Competition is heating up across the region as governments prepare for a post-pandemic world and race to diversify their economies away from oil.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said investment opportunities in the kingdom will amount to $6 trillion over the next decade, half of which represent new projects. The Arab world’s largest economy is offering incentives to convince multinationals in industries such as IT, finance and oil services to relocate their regional headquarters, the Financial Times reported this month.

Asked about the initiative by the UAE’s bigger neighbor, the director general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, Tariq Bin Hendi, said his country and its capital aren’t at risk of losing their “competitive advantage.”