Country Name

Conventional Long Form: United Arab Emirates
Local Long Form (Arabic): Dawlat Al Imarat Al Arabiyya Al Muttahidah
Local Short Form (Arabic): Al Imarat
Abbreviation: UAE
Arabic Words: ĻęįÉ ĒįÅćĒŃĒŹ ĒįŚŃČķÉ ĒįćŹĶĻÉ

Emirates

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah

Capital

Abu Dhabi

National Day

Independence Day (from UK), 2 December (1971)

President

HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (3 November 2004)

Vice-President & Prime Minister

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (5 January 2006)

Political System

A federation with specific areas of authority constitutionally assigned to the UAE Federal Government and other powers reserved for member emirates

Constitution

Adopted provisionally on 2 December 1971, made permanent in 1996

Area

83,600 square kilometers

Time

UAE Standard Time is 4 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+4)

Daylight Saving Time

UAE Time does not operate Daylight-Saving Time

International Dialing Code

+971

Currency

Emirati Dirham (Dh or AED), divided into 100 Fils

Exchange Rate

US$ 1 = AED 3.6725
The UAE Dirham has been officially pegged to the US dollar since February 2002

Language

The official language is Arabic. English is widely understood and ranks alongside Arabic as the language of commerce

Religion

Islam. Practice of all religious beliefs is allowed

Population

4.106 million (December, 2005)

GDP

AED 485.5 billion (2005, Current Prices)

Real GDP Growth

8.2% (2005)

Non-Oil Sector Contribution to Nominal GDP

64% (2005)

Foreign Direct Investment

US$10 billion (2005)

Industries

Oil & Gas, Aluminum, Cement, Fertilizers, Commercial Ship Repair, Petrochemicals,
Construction Materials, Pharmaceuticals, Tourism

Oil Production

2.8 million barrels per day

Oil Proven Reserves

98.1 billion barrels

Natural Gas Production

65 billion cubic meters

Natural Gas Proven Reserves

6 trillion cubic meters

Fiscal Year

1 January to 31 December

Weekend

Friday and Saturday for government institutions. Many private companies operate a six-day week (with Friday as an off day)

Exports

AED 424 billion (2005)

Free-Zone Exports

AED 63.9 billion (2005)

Re-Exports

AED 139.5 billion (2005)

Imports

AED 261.2 billion (2005)

Cultivated Areas

260,000 hectares, 3.1% of total territory

Number of Date Palms

Over 40 million

Agriculture & Fisheries Products

Dates, Green Fodder, Vegetables and Fruit; Livestock, Poultry, Eggs, Dairy Products; Fish

Estimated Fisheries Catch

97,574 tons

Flag

Three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and black with a wider vertical red band on the hoist side