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Abu Dhabi Has Dropped Business Setup Fees By Up To 94%
Thanks to the new initiative, setting up a new business in Abu Dhabi will cost you as little as 1,000 AED.
Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development and other government entities are determined to make the capital of the United Arab Emirates even more attractive to entrepreneurs because they’ve decided to lower business setup fees by up to 94 percent.
“We hope this significant change in fee structure helps to further ease the set-up process for new and existing investors,” explains Mohammed Al Shorafa, chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development. “Our goal for Abu Dhabi, as part of our new economic strategy, is to create a thriving business environment that encourages growth and innovation. Ease of starting and managing a business is a key lever, and we strongly believe the restructuring of fees will help us achieve this goal.”
The new business setup fees amount to just 1,000 AED ($273 USD), and they came to effect on July 27, 2021, covering all fees from Abu Dhabi government entities such as Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, the Department of Municipalities and Transport, membership fees for Abu Dhabi Chamber, CoC (Certificate of Conformity) issuance fee, and others.
This isn’t the first move Abu Dhabi have made in order to attract more entrepreneurship. In the past, the city has provided everything from rent rebates and discounts on utility bills to loan guarantee packages. Combined, all these business growth measures create an environment that’s especially favorable to tech entrepreneurs, who often compete with large enterprises with minimal financial resources. The less fees and other expenses they have to worry about, the more money they can dedicate to developing a great product and making it available to customers.
Also Read: How To Start An Online Business In Dubai (2023 Guide)
Abu Dhabi expects its economy to grow as much as 8 percent during the next two years as it recovers from the pandemic. The growth is expected to be driven mainly by government spending, foreign direct investment, the oil sector, and financial services.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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