Throughout the UAE and Saudi Arabia, governments moved decisively on rail, actual property, capital markets and company regulation. Unique interviews and data-led experiences additionally make clear shifting funding tendencies, from luxurious watches to property and ports.
Compensate for 10 of the largest tales this week as chosen by Arabian Enterprise editors.
UAE passenger rail community: Etihad Rail reveals full nationwide system connecting 11 cities forward of 2026 launch
Etihad Rail has introduced full particulars of the UAE’s nationwide passenger railway community, marking a serious milestone within the nation’s transport and infrastructure growth.
The venture will ship the UAE’s first totally built-in nationwide passenger rail system, connecting 11 cities and areas by means of strategically positioned stations. The community is designed to strengthen connectivity throughout the Emirates and supply secure, dependable mobility companies for residents, residents and guests.
In early 2025, Etihad Rail introduced the primary 4 passenger stations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah. The corporate has now confirmed the remaining deliberate stations in Al Sila’, Al Dhannah, Al Mirfa, Madinat Zayed, Mezaira’a, Al Faya and Al Dhaid. These stations will turn out to be operational in phases.
EXCLUSIVE: Saudi International Ports unveils $933m growth to problem UAE transshipment dominance
Saudi International Ports is investing 3.5 billion Saudi riyals ($933 million) over the following 5 years as a part of a strategic push to seize gateway cargo that has historically flowed by means of Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi.
The operator of Dammam port is ploughing funds into container terminals, multi-purpose services and a brand new built-in logistics zone to use geographic benefits over Emirati rivals as the dominion’s non-oil financial system expands.
Chief govt Rob Harrison informed Arabian Enterprise the funding represents section three within the firm’s evolution from port operator to ecosystem developer, positioning Saudi International Ports to serve the dominion’s 36 million shoppers extra instantly than transshipment-focused opponents.
Saudi Arabia to formally open property market to foreigners as long-awaited regulation takes impact this month
Saudi Arabia will this month formally open components of its actual property market to international consumers, bringing into power a long-awaited regulation that permits non-Saudis to personal property in designated areas of the Kingdom.
The brand new Legislation on Non-Saudis’ Possession of Actual Property, authorized by royal decree final 12 months and revealed within the official gazette in July 2025, got here into impact on January 21 following a six-month transition interval. This marks some of the vital structural shifts within the Kingdom’s property market in a long time and is intently aligned with the federal government’s broader financial diversification agenda below Imaginative and prescient 2030.
For months earlier than the regulation was formally authorized, builders, traders and advisers had been intently monitoring its progress, with expectations constructing that Saudi Arabia would ultimately observe different Gulf markets in easing restrictions on international possession. Whereas international funding in Saudi actual property has been permitted in restricted kinds since 2000, the brand new laws replaces that older framework with clearer guidelines, wider eligibility and stricter enforcement.
Dubai actual property holds agency in 2025 as costs, rents and ROI climb: prime areas revealed
The Dubai actual property sector remained firmly on a progress trajectory in 2025, supported by regular demand and increasing provide, in accordance with the Annual Dubai Property Market Report launched by dubizzle.
The report factors to sustained transactional exercise and total stability throughout key segments, together with prepared properties, off-plan gross sales and short-term leases, reinforcing confidence throughout Dubai’s residential market.
Commenting on the findings, Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut and dubizzle and CEO of Dubizzle Group MENA, mentioned: “Dubai’s actual property market stored up its momentum all year long, with regular demand throughout the board. We’ve additionally seen the business evolve, supported by stronger regulation, new partnerships and rising improvements like actual property tokenisation, that are including extra confidence and depth to the market.”
UAE holidays 2026: The way to get 45 days off with simply 17 of annual depart, anticipated Eid dates revealed
The UAE began 2026 with an official vacation for the private and non-private sector on Thursday, January 1.
The Gregorian New 12 months is only one of many official public holidays legislated in Cupboard Decision No. (27) of 2024 Regarding the Public Holidays within the State within the UAE. The ruling identifies the official UAE holidays noticed throughout the nation yearly.
The UAE has introduced potential vacation dates for events similar to Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha, the Islamic New 12 months and Nationwide Day in 2026. By reserving annual depart strategically, it is going to be attainable to have 45 days off and a number of full weeks of trip for only a few days of annual depart.
UAE overhauls Industrial Corporations Legislation with new possession and switch guidelines
The UAE Ministry of Economic system and Tourism has outlined main amendments to the nation’s Industrial Corporations Legislation, introducing far-reaching reforms aimed toward strengthening enterprise flexibility, decreasing prices and enhancing the nation’s funding enchantment.
At a media briefing reviewing Federal Decree-Legislation No. 20 of 2025, which amends Federal Decree-Legislation No. 32 of 2021, officers confirmed that the adjustments span 15 articles and introduce a brand new provision regulating the switch of an organization’s registration within the business register whereas preserving its authorized identification.
Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economic system and Tourism mentioned the UAE continues to pursue a long-term, forward-looking imaginative and prescient to construct a complicated and pioneering enterprise atmosphere for corporations of all sizes, aligned with world greatest practices and guided by the nation’s management.
Saudi Arabia opens capital market totally to international traders from February 2026
Saudi Arabia will open its capital market totally to international traders from February 1, 2026, marking some of the vital liberalisation steps within the Kingdom’s monetary market historical past.
The transfer removes long-standing restrictions on non-resident participation and is designed to deepen liquidity and entice further worldwide capital. The announcement was made by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) following approval by the CMA Board of a brand new regulatory framework governing international funding within the Principal Market.
Beneath the brand new framework, the Saudi capital market will likely be accessible to all classes of international traders for direct participation throughout all its segments, efficient from February 1, 2026.
EXCLUSIVE: Watches usually are not a ‘get-rich-quick’ funding however will be ‘higher than gold or money’ in 2026
The worldwide luxurious watch market stands at an inflection level as 2026 begins. After three years of corrections following the post-pandemic speculative peak, the business is exhibiting early indicators of stabilisation but the funding panorama for watches has shifted considerably.
“Consider watches much less like shares and extra like transportable wealth. They work greatest as a retailer of worth with the potential to understand over time, not as a get-rich-quick funding,” Robertino Altiero, CEO of WatchGuys.com, mentioned in an unique interview with Arabian Enterprise.
In response to consultants, the market now rewards selectivity over hypothesis and heritage over hype. For traders within the Gulf area the place discretion and long-term wealth preservation has trumped short-term beneficial properties, the present atmosphere presents challenges and alternatives.
UAE restricts scholarships for residents learning at British universities amid radicalisation fears
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has restricted authorities funding for its residents wishing to review at British universities, in accordance with a report by the Monetary Instances.
In June, the UAE’s larger training ministry revealed an inventory of world universities for which scholarships can be authorized and {qualifications} licensed, as a part of reforms limiting funding to top-performing establishments. The listing included universities within the US, Australia, Israel and France, however excluded the UK, house to lots of the world’s main educational establishments.
The exclusion is linked to UAE considerations over what it perceives as the danger of Islamist radicalisation on UK campuses, in accordance with three individuals aware of the matter cited by the FT.
A brand new Gulf order? What December’s Bahrain summit tells us about the way forward for the GCC
On the floor, the Bahrain summit seemed like some other Gulf gathering. A well-recognized household {photograph}. Ornate reception halls. A last communiqué thick with references to brotherly relations and shared future. But behind the choreography, one thing extra severe was happening.
For the primary time in years, all of the shifting components of Gulf integration – customs, aviation, rail, safety, even actual property regulation – had been pulled in a single route and given deadlines. Piece by piece, the summit revealed a bloc discovering its full rhythm – not by proclamation, however by means of the regular, technical self-discipline of shared methods. The Supreme Council’s assertion on December 3 was unequivocal on one level. The safety of the GCC states is “indivisible” and “any aggression in opposition to any one among them is an aggression in opposition to all of them.”
It explicitly linked this to the joint defence settlement and King Salman’s long-running imaginative and prescient to maneuver the bloc from unfastened cooperation in direction of one thing nearer to a union. It additionally pushed ministers to finish the remaining steps of financial unity, from the customs union to a typical marketplace for companies, and to report again on a “outlined timetable”.
