Well-known for its rugged beauty and stunning panoramic vistas, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), the northernmost of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE, has over the years successfully reinvented itself to emerge as an attractive investment location and a business hub.

The emirate, which recently celebrated 10 years of economic and developmental innovation, has carved its own niche in the country’s economic diversification drive by dedicatedly followed a strategy of diversification coupled with a business-friendly environment.

Today, apart from becoming a haven for adrenaline junkies (it is home to the longest zipline in the world), the UAE's northern-most Emirate is serving as a base for nearly 40,000 companies proving itself to be an attractive investment location given its lower business operating costs than the other emirates.

Led by Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, the emirate has been pushing new frontiers for development over the past ten years.

ECONOMIC PROGRESS

Ras Al Khaimah government adopts a fiscally prudent approach to governance and is committed to improving the ease of doing business. The consolidated government budget has been in surplus every year since 2010 and it follows conservative debt policies that ensure the debt-to-GDP ratio maintains a consistent downward trend.

This pragmatic approach has made it a haven for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and big businesses. Today, more than 38,000 companies from 100 countries representing over 50 industries have business licenses here, taking advantage of the services offered by either Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (Rakez), Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and Industry or the Department of Economic Development (DED).

Investors who have chosen to set up shop in Ras Al Khaimah have benefited from lower costs of housing and labour, modern infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities, as well as providing their employees with an excellent quality of life in an extremely safe environment with all the trappings of a major city, such as world-class hotels and attractions, though on a smaller and more inviting scale.

The business advantages have been quantified in recent years, with the 2019 World Bank Doing Business report ranking the Emirate 30th out of 190 economies for ease of doing business.

Ras Al Khaimah: business friendly environment

FREE ZONE EXPANSION

The two free zones that Sheikh Saud introduced in the early 2000s have, particularly in the past decade, helped the Emirate earn a mark in the global economic map as an ideal investment destination in the region.

Collectively, the free zones became among the leading business hubs in the UAE and, in 2017, they joined forced to become Rakez.

Rakez oversees six zones dedicated to various types of industries and is now home to more than 15,000 businesses across more than 50 sectors. These include many SMEs and also 770 world-leading manufacturers, such as Ahmad Tea, Knauf and Franke, to name but a few.

TOURISM & HOSPITALITY

Another area of major progress in Ras Al Khaimah over the past 10 years has been in the tourism and hospitality sector. Recognition of the Emirate’s achievements in this field came at the start of 2020 when the Gulf Cooperation Council named Ras Al Khaimah as the Gulf Tourism Capital 2020 – and for good reason.

The emirate expects more tourists in 2021, especially after being named Gulf Tourism Capital, once again. Ras Al Khaimah was named the 2021 Gulf Tourism Capital at the fifth annual meeting of tourism ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in November last.

According to the emirate’s Tourism Development Authority, the emirate received 1.12 million visitors in 2019, a 4 per cent increase, compared to 2018.

The Authority also reported in November that during the Eid Al Adha break the emirate witnessed a 12.9 percent growth in the Average Daily Rate (ADR), saying this increase was the highest in the last three years under normal (non-pandemic) travel circumstances.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras Al Khaimah said the GCC title “will strengthen the emirate's position on the international tourism map and will contribute to attracting larger numbers of tourists and visitors.”

“Ras Al Khaimah has witnessed, in recent years, a large-scale transformation, especially in vital facilities and services, infrastructure, education and healthcare sectors,” he said.

HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION

RAK Ceramics plant in Ras Al Khaimah

Over the past 10 years Ras Al Khaimah’s healthcare institutions have progressed from providing primary healthcare services to the local population to now welcoming to its shores medical tourists who wish to take advantage of the advanced healthcare options available.

Sheikh Mohammed also lauded the UAE’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that it “reflected the highest levels of professionalism.”

“And Ras Al Khaimah has made tireless efforts, as it provided a distinguished healthcare system capable of efficiently dealing with the repercussions of this pandemic,” he added.

Sheikh Mohammed explained: “The healthcare sector in Ras Al Khaimah is witnessing continuous development and modernisation. It is on the top of the priorities for the Ras Al Khaimah Government to integrate and cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Prevention to provide high-quality medical services for patients in the emirate, according to the best international standards.

“Despite the challenges posed by Covid-19, the UAE is moving steadily in combatting and containing the pandemic, displaying a successful example that has been admired around the globe.”

A large part of this advancement is thanks to RAK Hospital, which opened in 2007 with just five doctors and now has 75 doctors with a variety of specialties in a vastly expanded facility. From about 100 patients a day in its first years, RAK Hospital now cares for between 800 to 900 outpatients a day.

The hospital now provides a variety of surgeries, including cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, spine surgery, orthopedic surgery, to both the local community and medical tourists.

In addition to the main Government Saqr Hospital, the Emirate has developed an extensive network of healthcare facilities, including the state-of-the-art Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital, which was built by the federal Ministry of Health and is managed by Seoul National University Hospital.

The 246-bed hospital specialises in oncology, cardiovascular and neuroscience and its operating theater has 10 sophisticatedly designed, spacious operating rooms as well as a Magnetic Resonance (MR) room that allows for sophisticated surgery to be performed.

DIGITALISATION

Since 2010, Ras Al Khaimah has been undergoing a digital transformation, in line with the UAE strategy to improve and digitise government services. The Electronic Government Authority is driving digitalisation as a means to further improve and simplify services, to the extent that now more than 450 services from various Ras Al Khaimah Government departments have been transitioned into e-services available online.

QUARRYING REVOLUTION

Ras Al Khaimah: preserving the natural environment

For more than 40 years Stevin Rock, together with RAK Rock, has been quarrying in the mountains above Ras Al Khaimah to extract quality limestone, dolomite and gabbro materials that are then taken by road or by sea from nearby Saqr Port across the UAE, the GCC countries, India and beyond to customers involved in the construction, cement, steel, mining, chemical and glass industries.

Burj Khalifa, the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Mall all have been built using materials from these mountains. And as the solid reputation of RAK Rock and Stevin Rock has grown in recent years, so has the size of their business. Despite the push for diversification, quarrying remains an important bedrock of Ras Al Khaimah’s overall economic landscape.

In the past decade, the combined annual output of the two rock companies has grown from 48 million tonnes in 2010 to about 80 million tonnes now, making the sister companies among the largest rock producers in the world.

The proximity of RAK Ports’ Saqr Port, the largest bulk-handling port in the Middle East, means that the materials can be carried in an environmentally friendly manner by 10 kilometers of conveyor belts across the main highway and packed onto ships for transport around the region and beyond.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS

As with the preservation of history, Ras Al Khaimah is also conscious about ensuring the preservation of the natural environment.

That is why the landmark Energy Efficiency & Renewables Strategy was put in place by Ras Al Khaimah Municipality in 2018 to ensure buildings are built in a sustainable way and that the Emirate as a whole does all it can to reduce its impact on the environment.

The strategy aims to cut energy use by 30 per cent, water consumption by 20 per cent and ensure 20 per cent contribution from renewable energy sources by 2040. Several of its key strands have already taken effect, such as green building regulations for new buildings and a retrofit program for existing buildings, which aims to upgrade about 3,000 buildings with energy-saving solutions.

The Public Services Department also views improving the natural environment as fundamental to its role and, in the past decade, it has built more than 13 parks and walkways in different neighborhoods across Ras Al Khaimah, adding more than 660,000 square meters of green space.

In addition, the department launched the RAK Recycles initiative, which allows households across the Emirate to recycle packaging at home, while also opening five recycling centers at various locations and five food waste centers.

Ras Al Khaimah also plays host to the biennial International Conference on Global Warming, organised by the Environmental Protection and Development Authority, an entity that has developed almost 30 initiatives in an effort to achieve 11 goals by 2030.

The initiatives include multiple educational activities with school students, the One Million Trees initiative, which aims to plant that number of trees to help reduce the Emirate’s carbon footprint, the Estidama environmental app, which measures a user’s carbon footprint, various projects aimed at preserving the marine environment and the Sustainable Agriculture program, which delivers desalinated water to 120 farms across Ras Al Khaimah.

Under Sheikh Saud’s stewardship, Ras Al Khaimah has played – and continues to play – a vital role in ensuring the UAE’s impressive march up important global rankings. By creating a resilient, flexible and diverse economy underpinned by buoyant sectors in education, healthcare, technology, industry and tourism, Ras Al Khaimah is proving instrumental in the UAE’s ambition to be a 21st leader among nations.