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The Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone sponsored the British Chamber of Commerce Dubai briefing titled Doing Business in Dubai and Northern Emirates in London on February 4 2026 which drew over 100 attendees exploring UAE opportunities according to the Emirates News Agency. Holly Garforth head of business development at RAKEZ joined a panel to deliver insights on establishing operations inside the zone’s ready-to-use ecosystem. The event continued in Manchester with additional sessions on business setup choices in the UAE and targeted B2B meetings with stakeholders from advanced manufacturing supply chain and professional services sectors.
RAKEZ Group CEO Ramy Jallad described the United Kingdom as a priority market for the economic zone with growing demand from British companies. In the announcement he said The UK continues to be a priority market for RAKEZ with strong interest from British companies seeking scalable cost-effective bases for regional and global expansion. Jallad added that engagements in London and Manchester enabled direct dialogue to showcase infrastructure regulatory clarity and connectivity offered by Ras Al Khaimah.
RAKEZ welcomed 19,000 new companies in 2025 marking a 44 percent rise from 2024 and bringing its total registered businesses to more than 40,000 according to zone figures published in February 2026. British investors represented 7 percent of the 2025 registrations while the zone is already home to over 3,200 active UK-linked companies that have grown by more than 37 percent in the past two years. Services licences led new registrations at 40 percent followed by commercial and trading at 33 percent and e-commerce at 17 percent.
The zone operates three dedicated industrial areas with tailored infrastructure to support diverse operations the RAKEZ industrial brochure states. Al Ghail Industrial Zone supplies extensive land plots robust utilities and direct connectivity to transport routes for large-scale heavy manufacturing while Al Hamra offers flexible free zone and non-free zone setups with warehouses on-site accommodations and access to ports. Al Hulaila complements these with additional space for processing activities and guaranteed government-supplied power gas and water around the clock.
Connectivity features formed a core element of the briefing with emphasis on proximity to Saqr Port the largest bulk container port in the Middle East as well as Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai international airports. Utilities pricing remains competitive with electricity at AED 0.45 per kilowatt-hour and water at AED 0.046 per gallon according to zone specifications. These assets enable efficient logistics and exports across MENA Europe and Asia markets a point RAKEZ representatives highlighted to attending British firms.
The roadshow built on the briefing through high-level meetings that addressed investor ambitions in manufacturing and related fields the Emirates News Agency reported. RAKEZ has ranked highly in global benchmarks for quality of infrastructure and logistics services which supported its presentations on operational efficiency. Such outreach forms part of ongoing international activities to draw quality foreign direct investment into the northern emirate.
