FC: Dubai sheik creates no-tax Internet oasis in Arabian desert

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40167,00.html

   It's Sheik to Be Techie
   by John Gartner

   10:25 a.m. Nov. 14, 2000 PST
   LAS VEGAS -- H.H. Sheik Mohammed Rashid Bin Al is pulling a "Bugsy
   Malone" in the middle of the Arabian desert, except instead of
   building casinos, he's building the most technologically advanced city
   in the world.

   The crown prince of Dubai, which is a state in the United Arab
   Emirates, is turning the desert into an oasis for companies who want
   to do business in the Middle East.

   Sheik Mohammed set up a booth at Comdex to convince startups and
   multinational corporations that his tax-free Dubai Internet City is
   the place in the Middle East to have an office.

   Dubai Internet City -- which spokesman Ziad Al Rayyis said was as dry
   and barren as Las Vegas before the gangsters moved in -- started being
   developed and touted last year as the best place for companies who
   want to partake in the new economy.

   Rayyis said that more than 190 companies have signed on to open
   offices in Dubai, including Microsoft, Compaq, IBM and Oracle. In
   addition to offering a tax-free zone for multinational companies, the
   sheik wants startups from North America and Europe to consider
   relocating to Dubai.

   "We want to be an oasis for startups in the region," Rayyis said.
   Dubai Internet City has no corporate or personal income tax, and
   allows foreign companies to maintain 100 percent ownership of their
   businesses, he said.

   [...] 




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