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The Dubai Free Zones Council, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, held its 34th meeting to review strategic priorities aimed at enhancing free zone readiness, supporting business sustainability, and keeping pace with evolving economic and regulatory developments. These efforts align with Dubai’s vision to further strengthen its flexible, competitive, and investment-attractive business environment.
At the start of the meeting, the Council was briefed by the Dubai Government economic team on the latest developments of the economic initiatives and facilitation packages launched by The Executive Council of Dubai. The Council also discussed the initiatives presented by the Dubai Free Zones Council Strategy Team to support the business ecosystem and enhance companies' resilience. The Council discussed the free zones’ approach in anticipating the needs of these companies and providing integrated support, thereby reducing operational and financial burdens, strengthening investor confidence, and facilitating ease of doing business.
Strengthening business sustainability
The Dubai Free Zones Council continues to advance initiatives and projects aimed at enhancing business performance and continuity, strengthening regulatory readiness, and supporting the growth of existing, new, and promising sectors. The topics discussed by the Council form part of a comprehensive vision aimed at reinforcing the competitiveness of free zones and enhancing their capacity to adapt to evolving dynamics, further strengthening their contribution to GDP and the national economy in line with the highest standards of efficiency and compliance.
Enabling innovation
The Council discussed enabling innovation through the responsible regulation of the virtual assets sector and reviewed a presentation by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) on its role in developing the rules, regulations, and standards required to govern and supervise virtual asset platforms and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).
This aims to support Dubai’s growth as a regional and global hub for virtual assets, attracting investment and business, empowering users, raising awareness, and fostering innovation. It also aims to advance global standards that enable seamless integration and promote economic sustainability and cross-border financial security, in alignment with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.
The Council also reviewed aspects of institutional cooperation and coordination to support awareness and regulatory support, inspection procedures, complaint-handling mechanisms, and collaboration with VARA in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.
A supportive environment for the halal industry
The Council discussed efforts to create a supportive environment for scaling local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and technology startups in Islamic finance and the halal industry, in line with the Dubai International Financial Centre’s initiative in the sector. It also discussed the opportunities this presents to further strengthen Dubai’s position in this domain, in alignment with the National Strategy for Islamic Finance and Halal Industry 2031.
The discussions also included ways to leverage free zones as enabling platforms to develop an integrated ecosystem that promotes local production of high-value halal products, supports startup programmes and innovation in the food technology, agri-tech, and pharmaceutical sectors. It also explored solutions for halal product tracking systems and supply chain compliance verification, including the development of a system to track, register, and verify compliance across the supply chain.
Free zone readiness
The Council addressed the short- and long-term readiness of free zones for the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment to enhance compliance with the standards on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and the financing of illicit organisations.
A number of perspectives were discussed to further strengthen compliance readiness and ensure alignment with international best practices ahead of the visit. These included the formation of a dedicated compliance team across the free zones, aligning policies and procedures and confirming the completion of relevant digital integration processes prior to the on-site visit.
The Council also received an update on the launch of the Unified Employment Contract project in coordination with the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai and the milestones achieved in standardising contracts while preserving the institutional identity of each free zone and its existing operational mechanisms. Implementation will proceed in phases, starting with contract review and alignment, followed by digital integration and data testing, and culminating in the rollout of an integrated digital employment contract across all free zones.
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