Page 272 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

254 Dubai & Co.

associated with relying on partners, as well as the less favorable
economics, have kept most multinationals away.
The creation of free-zone industrial parks has changed the sit-
uation significantly. As discussed earlier, the Jebel Ali Free Zone—
Dubai’s first and most industrial free zone—has attracted hundreds
of international firms over more than a decade of operations.
Nestlé, for example, which has been operating in Jebel Ali since
1997, has announced plans to begin manufacturing in Dubai by the
25
end of 2007. Other free zones in the UAE, such as those linked
with airports, also draw industrial firms.
King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia is to include
26
a massive 8-million-square-foot industrial district. Industry and
manufacturing are areas in which Saudi ownership laws have been
quickest to liberalize, as government appreciation of the need
to expand its industrial competitiveness is acute. Qatar’s Science
and Technology Park, in which GE has established a training and
research center, permits 100 percent foreign ownership. The Kuwait
Free Trade Zone, located in Shuwaikh Port, offers similar liberties
and benefits. Bahrain’s International Investment Park is a single
complex with zones for services- and knowledge-based firms
as well as manufacturing and industrial facilities of various sizes.
Like its counterparts in other countries, the park offers 100 percent
foreign ownership, tax holidays, and support systems for manag-
ing government bureaucracy. 27
One high-profile firm that has announced its plans to manu-
facture in the region is Kraft. Kraft is building a plant in the Gulf
to serve the broader Middle East region. The facility represents
a $40 million investment. 28

Kraft-ing a Gulf Manufacturing Facility
Kraft, the global food business, has been distributing its goods in
the Middle East for half a century. Known best for its cheeses, the
company also owns brands in other food categories such as Oreo
cookies, Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O, and Tang. Processed food is
an industry whose growth is linked to population and prosperity—
both of which are moving in a positive direction in the Gulf and
much of the Middle East. Kraft’s outlook on the region appears to
be reasonably optimistic.