About the UAE

The United Arab Emirates consists of seven states, termed emirates and is located in the Arabian Gulf region. It has around 644 kms of coast line on the Gulf shore besides 90 kms on the Gulf of Oman. The total area of the UAE is around 83,600 sq. kms and ranks 3rd amongst GCC countries just after Saudi Arabia and Oman. As the second largest of the seven Emirates, Dubai also boasts of some of the best skylines in the world, featuring the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai. With new construction on the rise every day Dubai’s landscape is constantly changing. The expatriate community of over 200 different nationalities makes the city urbane and cosmopolitan and its dynamic business centers have wooed multinational giants eager to take advantage of this tax-free haven and explore the city’s commercial opportunities.

The seven UAE states are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. The capital and second-largest city is Abu Dhabi, which is also the country's center of political, industrial and cultural activities. All of the UAE’s states are governed by a constitutional monarchy with a presidential system of government.

Before 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the United Kingdom and several Arab Sheikhs. Abu Dhabi is the largest Emirate with two million people while its capital, the city of Abu Dhabi, has about one million people. The city has a majority of Arabs and some 350,000 locals and is much more conservative than Dubai.

With oil riches being abundant within the UAE Abu Dhabi has 92% of the UAE oil and at the current production rate, Abu Dhabi can keep pumping oil for the next 103 years without discovering any new oil fields. It is embarking on an ambitious plan to catch up with its sister city Dubai including building entertainment parks, new hotels, and a 25 billion Dirham’s new airport.