評論
打印
Business in the UAE
阿聯酋商業
Improving the desert climate
提升沙漠氣候
A draft companies law in the emirates is a bit disappointing
阿聯酋的公司法草案不孚眾望
FOREIGN investment is flooding back, the malls are filling with shoppers and deals are being struck: business in the United Arab Emirates is booming once again. The IMF this month upgraded its forecast for the emirates' economic growth in 2014 from 3.9% to 4.4%.
外國投資如潮水席卷而來，商場里顧客摩肩接踵交易量激增：阿聯酋的商業再次繁榮，國際貨幣基金組織對阿聯酋2014年經濟增長的預算從3.9%上調到4.4%。
As memories of the crisis recede, companies are remembering the reasons that make the emirates attractive. The high income of the population, 84% of whom are expatriates, is one. Geography is another. The country is conveniently located between Europe and Asia, with two world-class airlines, Emirates and Etihad.
隨著金融危機的記憶消退，很多公司正慢慢記住讓阿聯酋有如此吸引力的原因：一方面源于人口的高收入，其中84%是外籍人士。另一方面是阿聯酋地處亞歐之間的地理位置，擁有兩個世界級的航空公司—阿聯酋航空和阿提哈德航空。
The UAE has done a lot to make life easy for firms, keeping paperwork to a minimum and moving much of it online. It comes 23rd out of 189 economies in the World Bank's latest ranking for the ease of doing business, the highest in a region that has seen a tumultuous few years. It takes only eight days to set up a business, three fewer than the average for the OECD, a club of mostly rich states. “Two years ago I'd have said the UAE does well relative to the region,” says Habib al-Mulla of the Dubai office of Baker & McKenzie, a law firm. “Today I'd say it globally, too.”
阿聯酋在為讓企業生活方便上做了很多的事情，比如文書工作在線以保持最小化移動。 阿聯酋在世界銀行最新的189個經濟體的商業排行榜上名列第23位，成為混亂的幾年里在該地區中最高的。只需八天的時間，阿聯酋就能夠成立一個企業，用時平均比作為大多數富裕國家的俱樂部的經合的成員國少三倍。“兩年前我會說阿聯酋是一個相對的區域。”迪拜的一個法律公Baker & McKenzie的辦公室人員Habib al-Mulla說，“而今天，我要說它一樣是全球化的”
On April 13th the country's president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, signed into law a measure to promote smaller firms by giving them greater access to official contracts and loans. Yet businesspeople are disappointed by a draft of a broader companies law, which is expected to be sanctioned soon. The bill fails to solve the two big problems hampering business in the emirates. First is the lack of a proper insolvency regime that makes clear the duties of a firm's directors and the rights of its creditors if it hits financial trouble. Despite its high overall rating, the UAE comes 101st on this score in the World Bank's ratings. Such minor matters as being late paying a phone bill may be treated as criminal offences rather than civil matters; businessmen tell tales of colleagues going to the airport only to be told they are banned from travelling.
四月十三日，國家總統哈利法·本·扎耶德·阿勒納哈揚，簽署相關法律文件，一個重要舉措即通過給予更多的官方合同貸款來促進小型企業的發展。然而，商人們對一個預計將很快批準的公司法草案普遍感到失望。貨幣未能解決的兩大問題阻礙了阿聯酋的業務發展。首先是一個一旦公司陷入財務困境，能夠明確公司董事義務和債權人權利的合適的破產制度。盡管它的總評價較高，但這件事上阿聯酋在世界銀行的排行第101。諸如此類的小事，比如延期支付電話賬單可能被視為刑事犯罪而非民事；比如商人告訴同事去機場，卻被告知他們被禁止旅行的故事。
The second issue the proposed legislation leaves untouched is foreign ownership. International businesses that set up local limited-liability companies, as most do, can own only 49% of them, and thus must find trustworthy local partners. Dubai has created several “free” zones, where full foreign ownership is allowed, but the other emirates have been slow to follow. Analysts reckon that full liberalisation of ownership would attract more businesses.
第二個是立法留下不變的外國所有權的問題。國際企業建立在阿聯酋設立有限責任公司，無論做多少，都只能擁有公司百分之四十九的份額，因此，企業必須在當地尋找可靠的合作伙伴。迪拜創造了幾個允許全外資所有權的“免費”地帶，但其他酋長國照做的速度卻很緩慢。分析師們認為，企業所有權的全面開放將會吸引更多的企業。
Investor protection is another worry. The UAE has made progress: its courts tend to recognise the decisions of foreign arbitral tribunals. But enforcing contracts can be tricky, and the new law does not help much. Its biggest potential benefit is its lowering of the percentage that companies must float in an IPO from 55% to 30%. This should encourage more family-owned firms, hitherto worried about losing control, to raise capital to expand.
投資者保護是另一個迫在眉睫的問題。阿聯酋已取得的進步：其法院傾向于承認外國仲裁法庭的決定。然而，合同的執行卻是棘手的，并且新法律對此并沒有多大的幫助。其最大的潛在的好處是它降低了公司IPO指數必須浮動在55%到30%之間百分比的。這將給更多一直擔心因為提高資本擴大規模而使的公司失控的的家族企業以信心。
Further legislation on insolvency and foreign ownership is promised. But when things go well in the Gulf, as they now are, the authorities tend to lose interest in reform. Still, businessmen agree that the UAE's advantages far outweigh its handicaps. Fadi Malas, the boss of Just Falafel, a local fast-food operator, says it is ideal not just as a place to do business but as a springboard for expanding across the region and beyond:plans are in hand for the chain, currently 55 outlets, to grow to more than 900 worldwide. Like the Lebanese-British Mr Malas, entrepreneurs choose the UAE over neighbouring countries not least because it has both electricity and stability—two things other places sorely lack.
當局在關于破產和外國所有權進一步的立法問題上給出了承諾。但當事情順利發展的時候，當局卻失去了改革的興趣。總是如此，在商人們的心中，阿聯酋的優點遠遠大于它給的障礙。一位當地的快餐店經營者，ust Falafel的老板Fadi Malas說，阿聯酋不僅是一個做生意的好地方，還是一個可以擴展到整個地區甚至地區以外的跳板：他計劃的產業鏈條是，目前55家店成長到超過全球900家的數量。像黎巴嫩籍英國人Malas先生一樣，企業家們選擇在眾多鄰國中選擇阿聯酋，至少是看中了其他國家和地區所缺乏的電力資源和穩定的環境。
