When Sheikh Mohammed gave his project managers the green light to build the Burj Khalifa, a Dubai skyscraper 40% taller than the world's tallest building, it became quite It is evident that the Sheikh had some grand global ambitions for his oil-rich territory, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the Burj may be reaching for the Arabian stars, another man-made construction was already well underway in the United Arab Emirates, a tax haven. Indeed, the Dubai International Free Zone (DIFC), which has managed to attract 313 licensed lenders, insurance companies, asset management companies and fund companies. Among them are 22 of the 25 largest banks in the world. In numbers, this all means a foreign direct investment inflow of 30 billion dirhams or $8.2 billion into the UAE in 2012, up from $7.68 billion from the previous year. There are already 38 free zones in the UAE and nine more free zones are already planned to be built there. There are several tax advantages for doing business in these free zones. For example, registered businesses are exempt from taxes when they repatriate their capital, registered companies do not have to pay import or export duties. Companies in the free zone are even exempt from paying municipal taxes. Furthermore, each zone is treated as an "offshore jurisdiction" under UAE law and are virtually autonomous with their own administration, legal system and favorable tax incentives with the intended goal of attracting top financial institutions and other companies to all over the world to create shop there. The federal government of the United Arab Emirates also made Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates, a free zone last year. The name of the new free zone, "Global Marketplace Abu Dhabi" ("GMAD"), emphasizes...... half of the paper......to Tunisia and recent estimates now, but the figure is less than 6 million of tourists. Then there is Egypt which has already had three elections in as many years. Observers are now waiting to see what impact these new elections will have on the country's economy and security. But some voters are showing signs of election fatigue and downright cynicism about the electoral process. A BBC reporter notices a young man loitering in the crowd: "Don't you want to vote?" he asked the young man. “I didn't participate in the revolution and I didn't see my friends die and then vote in an election that is nothing more than a show,” the young man replied. The country's former army chief is destined to win. Therefore, the extent to which the triumph of these emirate financial free zones may also depend on how the delicate situation in North Africa and some parts of the Middle East develops. Time will tell.