Ras Al Khaimah is the northerly Emirate at UAE's West Coast. The ruler of Ras Al Khaimah is His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi. It is in the northern part of the UAE bordering Oman. The capital city and home of most residents
is also called Ras al-Khaimah. The city has two main sections, Old Ras Al Khaimah and Nakheel, on either side of a creek. It is served by the Ras Al Khaimah International Airport in Al Jazirah Al Hamra.
Ras al-Khaimah is estimated to have a total population of 300,000. While UAE citizens officially make up less than 20% of the population in the UAE, this figure is higher in Ras al-Khaimah. Emiratis are thought to make up at least
50% of the emirate’s population. The official language of the UAE is Arabic, although English is widely used in business circles. A significant portion of the expatriate population also speaks Hindi, Malayalam,Tamil, Urdu, Bengali,
Persian and other languages of the subcontinent.
Ras al-Khaimah is not a major oil producer, so it has focussed on developing its industrial sector. It opened the UAE's first cement company in the early 1970s and is now the UAE's largest producer of cement. In the 1980s, the emirate
formed Ras al-Khaimah Ceramics, which has become the world's largest ceramics producer, and Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar), the Persian Gulf region's first pharmaceuticals company. It is trying to emerge as an investment
destination par excellence. However it suffers from great electricity shortages, which has caused some residential buildings to be abandoned.
The annual Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, first held in 2007, has called the attention of the world's sporting media to the region. The organisers invest much in the IAAF-label race in order to attract the world's top athletes, resulting
in a world record from Samuel Wanjiru in 2007 and the second fastest run of all-time from Patrick Makau Musyoki in 2009. Traditional occupations of this Emirate are mainly fishing, trading & agriculture, which have been heavily
modernized to meet the demands of UAE's economy.
New legislation and regulations adopted by Ras al-Khaimah authorities favour big international interest for offshore business purposes. The combination of security and confidentiality is ensured to entrepreneurs. An international company
may only have foreign customers and is not liable for paying local taxes. It can open a local bank account, make investments tax-free, obtain mortgages for investing in UAE assets. Employment visas are available. When approved,
this type of company can own property in UAE free trade zones.
No income, sales or wealth taxes are payable by individuals. No corporate taxes are charged. In addition, there are no exchange controls, no withholding nor import or export taxes.
Ras al Khaimah has a large number of government-run Arabic-medium schools—primary, elementary and higher secondary. There are also English-medium schools which offer varied curricula to suit the expatriate community, with syllabi such
as GCSE, IGCSE, A Levels, O Levels, CBSE, Kerala State-Board (Indian Syllabi), Dhaka Board (Bangladeshi Syllabi) etc.
• Ras Al Khaimah English Speaking School
• The International School of Choueifat
• Indian School Ras Al Khaimah
• The New Indian Higher Secondary School
• Indian Public High School
• Scholars Indian School
• Bangladesh
Islamia School
• Pakistani Higher Secondary School
There are also a number of higher education institutions including some branches of foreign universities:
• The University of Bolton
• Ittihad University
• American University of Ras Al Khaimah
• Royal College of Applied Science and Technology
• Birla Institute of Technology
• Ras al-Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University
•
Ras Al Khaimah College of Dental Sciences
• George Mason University Ras Al Khaimah campus
• Birla Institute of Technology International Centre, Ras Al Khaimah
• Higher Colleges of Technology
• The University of Pune
(UoP)
• Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVU)
• Vatel International Business School for Hotel and Tourism Management
• Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
• École Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne
Ras Al Khaimah city, the main mode of transport are metered taxis, with public buses operating on long-haul routes and catering mainly to smaller towns, e.g. Sha`am, Rams, and Jazeerah-al-Hamra. The newly constructed Emirates Road
(E311 Highway) traverses the emirates of Umm Al Quwain, Ajman (60 km) and Sharjah (71 km) to finally end up in Dubai (87 km). The new highway allows journeys from Ras Al Khaimah to Dubai in under 45 minutes.
Saqr Port, located in the industrial area of Khor Khuwair, is the Emirate's main port, providing bulk and container services. It has eight deep water berths, each 200 m long, is dredged to 12.2 m and has two ro-ro ramps plus specialised
berths for handling bulk cement and aggregate. Other services include ship handling, crew changes and 40,000 m2 of covered storage together with a vast open storage area. It is also the closest port in the UAE to Bandar Abbas in
Iran, however there is no shipping from Saqr port to Bandar Abbas.
Ras Al Khaimah International Airport is currently undergoing an upgrade. It operates cargo and passenger services to a variety of destinations covering the Middle East, North & East Africa, Central Asia, India and the Far East.
Open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, the airport has an open skies policy with no restrictions no frequencies and time of arrival / departure; offers competitive tariffs and storage facilities; is not congested, and has a full
offering of duty-free goods, among other services.
The following are some of the major shopping centres in Ras Al Khaimah:
• Manar Mall (also known as Carrefour by the expatriate community) - the oldest shopping mall in Ras al-Khaimah and the most popular due to its location in the heart of the city. The mall contains one of the two cinemas in Ras al-Khaimah
- Almassa Cinema
Stores include:
• Axiom Telecom
• Lulu centre
• Safeer Mall - a newly installed mall as of 2009
Stores include:
• Axiom Telecom
• Al Hamra Mall - a newly installed mall as of 2009
Stores include:
• Axiom Telecom
• Safeer Market
• Kerala Super Market
• Al Wafa Super Market
• Al Manama Hypermarket
There are two government hospitals (Saqr Hospital and Saif Bin Ghobash Hospital) and a private multispecialty hospital (RAK Hospital) which is promoted by Arabian Healthcare LLC, a joint venture between the Government of Ras Al Khaimah
and the Dubai-based ETA Star Group, and managed by the Swiss healthcare provider "Sonnenhof-Swisshealth". Ras al-Khaimah Hospital has been accredited by "Joint Commission International" (JCI) and "Swiss Leading Hospitals".