• Home
• Business

Counselor Ahmed El Adly Presents a New Vision for the Role of Legislation

in the Economy

Former Legal Counsel to the Government of the United Arab Emirates

Chairman and Founder – Al Adly & Partners:

“We do not need to replicate successful experiences; we need to understand why they succeeded

and adapt them to Egypt’s needs.”

“Legislative quality has become a competitive advantage for states, and investors seek certainty

before returns.”

“A state that provides investors with legal certainty possesses a genuine competitive advantage.”

“Law is not a constraint on investment; it is one of the most important tools for generating growth.”

“Good legislation does not merely regulate today’s economy; it helps create tomorrow’s markets.”

In a comprehensive interview on legislation, investment, decision-making, and the future of Arab

economies, Counselor Ahmed El Adly, former Legal Counsel to the Government of the United

Arab Emirates and Founder and Chairman of Al Adly & Partners, presents a vision that goes

beyond the traditional view of law as a regulatory tool and places it at the heart of the equation

for growth, investment attraction, and the creation of new markets.

In economies competing for capital and investment, legislation is no longer merely a neutral

framework; it has become one of the determinants of a country’s competitiveness. Clarity and

stability of rules, speed of procedures, institutional efficiency, and effective mechanisms for

protecting rights and resolving disputes have all become factors that directly enter an investor’s

calculations before a decision is made.

Against this backdrop, Counselor Ahmed El Adly discusses the relationship between law and

economics, drawing on practical experience working close to government decision-making circles

in the UAE. He offers a perspective on how Egypt can develop its legislative environment,

enhance its attractiveness to investment, and strike a balance between protecting the market and

supporting serious investors, while also addressing the future of legislation amid accelerating

technological and economic transformations.

LEGISLATION AND INVESTMENT

Q: Is law merely a framework for regulating the economy, or can it serve as a driver of

growth and investment?

A: In modern economies, law should not be viewed merely as a set of rules that place limits on

economic activity. Rather, it should be regarded as one of the tools for shaping markets and

directing growth.

Investors do not seek only opportunities offering high returns. They also seek an environment in

which they can anticipate their rights and obligations, understand how their investments will be

protected, know how disputes will be resolved, and determine which rules will apply to them today

and tomorrow.

Good legislation, therefore, does not merely prevent risks; it reduces the cost of uncertainty, and

that in itself represents significant economic and investment value.

Q: What constitutes successful law, and where should the institutional objective lie?

A: I believe the institutional objective should shift from the concept of “regulating activity” to

“designing the investment environment.” In other words, legislation should be drafted alongside a

proper understanding of the needs of the economy, finance, technology, and capital flows.

Ultimately, successful law is law that enables an investor to say: I know the rules, I understand

the risks, and I can make a decision.

LAW BEFORE RETURNS

Q: How do laws and regulations influence investors’ decisions?

A: Investors do not read the law in isolation from the economy; they view it as part of the riskreturn equation.

Before committing capital, an investor wants to know: Are the rules clear? Are they predictable?

Are the procedures stable? Can rights be protected and enforced? And how will future disputes

or regulatory changes be handled?

The greater the degree of clarity and stability, the lower the cost of legal risk, and the more willing

investors become to make decisions, whether in terms of the size of the investment, its duration,

or their ability to expand.

For this reason, I do not believe that attracting investment should depend solely on incentives and

exemptions. In many cases, legislative clarity, regulatory stability, and procedural efficiency may

have a greater impact than any financial incentive.

This is why I believe the quality of the legislative environment has become a competitive

advantage for states. A state that provides investors with clear rules, effective institutions, and

reliable mechanisms for protecting rights and resolving disputes does not merely attract

investment; it also helps retain and expand it.

LEGISLATION AS A TOOL FOR GROWTH

Q: Can legislation serve as a tool for growth rather than merely as an instrument of

oversight?

A: Absolutely. In fact, I believe this is the more advanced function of legislation in the modern

economy. Traditional legislation often approached the market by asking: What should we prohibit?

What should we monitor? Modern economic legislation should ask different questions: How do

we create a more efficient market? How do we open the way for investment, innovation, and

competition while preserving the protection of rights?

Legislation can create entirely new markets when it provides legal recognition for new economic

instruments and models and establishes clear rules for operating within them. In my view, the true

measure of any economic legislation is not the number of restrictions it imposes, but the value it

adds to the economy compared with the regulatory cost it creates.

We need legislation that protects without suffocating, regulates without obstructing, and opens

the door to innovation without ignoring risks. Most importantly, legislation should not be the end

of the dialogue; it should be the beginning of a continuous cycle of implementation, impact

assessment, review, and development.

If we want a more competitive economy, we must treat legislation as part of the state’s economic

infrastructure, just as we treat roads, energy, and telecommunications.

Good law does not merely regulate the market that exists today; it helps build the market we want

to exist tomorrow.

AT THE HEART OF DECISION-MAKING

Q: What did your government experience teach you about the relationship between

legislation and decision-making?

A: The most important lesson I learned from working close to government decision-making is that

legislation is not made in a vacuum, and it should neither begin nor end with the legal text itself.

Good legislation begins with understanding the economic or social problem, then studying

alternatives, listening to stakeholders, assessing the expected impact, and only then drafting an

enforceable legal rule. It also requires applying the concept of public participation before a law is

issued. There is a significant difference between legislation that is legally sound and legislation

that is successful in practice.

From experience, I believe effective legislative decision-making requires three fundamental

elements: a clear vision, accurate information, and a continuous mechanism for measuring impact

after implementation. There is also a principal condition: the law must actually be enforced

through comprehensive legal governance, alongside the availability of genuinely qualified

professionals not merely employees who have spent enough time within the government system

to be considered eligible to assume such roles. That is where the key lies.

Success does not lie merely in issuing a law, but in determining whether it achieved the objective

for which it was enacted, whether it created unintended consequences, and whether it needs

further development. This is the concept of “dynamic legislation”: legislation that keeps pace with

the economy rather than waiting until reality has moved years ahead of it.

EGYPT AND THE UAE

Q: What can Arab markets learn from the UAE’s experience in developing the business

environment?

A: I believe the most important lesson is not a particular law, but rather the methodology used to

build the legislative and investment environment.

The UAE recognized early on that attracting investment does not depend solely on incentives. It

requires an integrated ecosystem comprising clear legislation, effective regulatory authorities,

efficient procedures, a reliable judicial and arbitration framework, and clear protection of rights.

However, I do not believe in transferring one country’s experience to another literally. What can

be transferred are the reasons for success, which can then be redesigned to suit the particular

characteristics of each market.

Egypt has a vast market, a broad investor base, and enormous economic potential. The real

challenge, in my view, is to transform these strengths into a legislative and institutional competitive

advantage by reducing unnecessary procedures, unifying the regulatory vision, increasing

predictability of the rules, and linking legislation to development and investment objectives.

The goal is not for Arab markets to become identical, but for them to become more efficient, more

competitive, and better able to attract capital.

THE PROFESSIONAL INVESTOR

Q: How does a professional investor assess legal risks before committing capital?

A: A professional investor does not ask only, “How much will I earn?” Before that, the investor

asks, “What could prevent me from achieving that return?” This is why legal risk assessment has

become an essential component of economic feasibility studies.

Investors examine several levels: ownership of assets, licenses, contracts, regulatory obligations,

taxation, financing, partners’ rights, exit mechanisms, intellectual property protection, and finally,

dispute-resolution mechanisms.

What matters most, however, is not the mere existence of risks, but whether they can be

anticipated, assessed, and managed. There is no investment environment without risk, nor should

eliminating all risk be the objective. The objective is for risks to be clear, assessable, and

manageable.

This is why modern legal advice has become part of the investment decision-making process

rather than merely a review of contracts after the decision has already been made.

REAL ESTATE AND LEGISLATION

Q: How can legislation strike a balance between protecting investors and regulating the

market?

A: The real estate market in particular requires this balance, because excessive regulation can

slow the market, while insufficient regulation can undermine confidence and increase risk.

In my view, the solution is not to increase restrictions, but to establish clear rules that protect

funds while leaving serious developers sufficient room to innovate and grow. Among the areas

that deserve continuous development are the regulation of off-plan sales, protection of

purchasers’ funds, project escrow accounts, disclosure, contract registration, and mechanisms

for dealing with stalled or distressed projects.

The objective should be to build a system in which project funds are tied to the project, disclosure

is tied to accountability, and expenditure is linked to actual progress in implementation. Egypt can

benefit from successful regional experiences, including that of the UAE, but only after examining

how they can be adapted to Egypt’s legal and economic system.

I believe the correct equation is: purchaser protection + support for serious developers + market

stability.

If that equation is achieved, legislation becomes a tool for growth rather than an obstacle to it.

A NEW INDUSTRIAL LAW

Q: Egypt is seeking to strengthen domestic production, increase exports, attract

industrial investment, and localize technology and supply chains. In your view, why do

challenges remain despite the availability of financing, land, and incentives?

A: There is no doubt that achieving these objectives depends not only on the availability of

financing, land, or incentives, but also on the existence of a clear, stable, and predictable

legislative and regulatory environment.

Industrial investment is inherently long-term. An investor therefore needs to understand not only

the conditions for entering the market, but also the rules that will govern the entire life cycle of the

project, from establishment through production, expansion, and export.

Q: Is the problem the multiplicity of laws or the multiplicity of procedures?

A: It may be a mistake to reduce the problem simply to the number of laws.

Numerous laws can operate efficiently if responsibilities are clear and procedures are

interconnected. Conversely, multiple procedures, authorities, or overlapping requirements can

raise compliance costs even when the legislation itself is well drafted.

The more important question, therefore, is not: How many laws are there? Rather, it is: Do these

laws operate as a single coherent system?

Q: Does Egypt need a new industrial law that consolidates the legislative framework

governing industry?

A: In my assessment, this deserves careful institutional study, but the answer is not necessarily

to issue a new comprehensive law.

A more effective option may be to develop an integrated industrial legislative framework that

reorganizes the relationship among laws, authorities, and procedures and clearly defines the life

cycle of an industrial project from establishment through production and export.

Such a framework could be based on several principles: clarity of jurisdiction, simplification of

procedures, digitalization, stability of rules, prompt grievance mechanisms, investment protection,

and enhanced export competitiveness.

The true value of any industrial law will not be measured by the number of its provisions, but by

its ability to reduce uncertainty, lower compliance costs, and improve the competitiveness of

Egyptian industry.

INDUSTRY AND EXPORTS

Q: How can the link between industry and exports be restored?

A: If Egypt aims to increase exports, the legal framework governing industry should not view a

factory merely as an establishment producing for the domestic market.

An exporting manufacturer needs an environment that enables it to import production inputs

efficiently, comply with specifications and standards, protect intellectual property rights, enter into

international contracts, navigate international trade rules, and resolve cross-border commercial

disputes.

Against this background, the competitiveness of Egyptian industry begins, in part, with the quality

of the legal framework within which it operates.

TECHNOLOGY MOVES FASTER THAN LEGISLATION

Q: Does innovation move faster than legislation? And how should the region deal with

artificial intelligence, digital assets, and financial technology?

A: In many cases, yes. Technology moves faster than legislation, and this is not merely an Arab

problem; it is a global challenge.

The problem begins when we attempt to regulate a new technology using legal tools designed for

a different era.

I therefore believe we need to move from reactive legislation to proactive legislation meaning that

we begin studying risks and opportunities before a phenomenon becomes widespread.

In areas such as artificial intelligence, digital assets, and financial technology, the question should

not be, “How do we prevent the technology?” Rather, it should be, “How do we enable innovation

while protecting the market, users, and investors?” Important solutions include providing flexible

regulatory spaces, such as regulatory sandboxes, alongside clear rules governing liability, data

protection, fraud prevention, transparency, and risk management.

The objective is not for legislation always to move ahead of technology that would be unrealistic

but for the response time of legislative and regulatory institutions to remain reasonably close to

the pace of technological development.

ARBITRATION AND DISPUTE MANAGEMENT

Q: Why has dispute management become part of investment strategy rather than merely

a stage that follows the occurrence of a problem?

A: Because a professional investor does not wait for a dispute to arise before thinking about how

it should be managed.

In the modern economy, potential disputes should be considered when structuring a transaction

from the outset: Which law will apply? Which forum will have jurisdiction? Would arbitration be

appropriate? How will judgments or arbitral awards be enforced? And what mechanism will

provide the fastest and most efficient protection for the investment?

This represents a shift from the concept of “dispute resolution” to “dispute-risk management.”

A good contract is not merely one that defines the parties’ rights and obligations; it also sets out

a clear scenario for what will happen if matters do not proceed as planned. Markets that provide

fast, reliable, and efficient dispute-resolution mechanisms are more attractive to investment

because capital seeks not only returns, but also legal security and the prompt recovery of rights

when necessary.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Q: How can digital transformation contribute to industrial regulation?

A: It is difficult to build a modern industrial sector using traditional procedures.

Digital transformation should not be limited to automating the submission of applications. It should

extend to data exchange among authorities, standardization of documents, tracking of licenses,

integration of databases, reduction of repeated requests for the same information, and greater

procedural transparency.

Technology can thereby evolve from a mere administrative tool into an instrument of legislative

and regulatory reform. Genuine digitalization does not simply mean converting paper into a

screen; it means redesigning the procedure itself so that it becomes faster, more transparent, and

more efficient.

THE FUTURE OF INVESTMENT

Q: How will the investment and business landscape in the Middle East change in the

coming years?

A: I believe we are witnessing a genuine reshaping of the investment landscape across the region.

Competition among states will no longer be based solely on market size or operating costs, but

on the overall quality of the investment environment: legislation, regulation, technology, capital,

infrastructure, talent, and the speed of decision-making.

I expect stronger growth in sectors related to technology, artificial intelligence, energy, financial

services, infrastructure, advanced real estate, and logistics, alongside an increase in cross-border

investment among Arab markets themselves.

In my view, the most successful states will be those capable of building an environment that

investors can predict, navigate quickly, and rely upon for effective legal protection.

The region’s future will also depend not only on competition, but on economic and legislative

integration. The easier and clearer the movement of capital and business becomes among Arab

states, the greater the region’s collective ability to attract global investment.

Ultimately, I do not believe the future of investment in the Middle East will be determined solely

by who has the largest market, but by who can provide the most reliable, flexible, and scalable

environment.

This is precisely where law becomes part of a state’s competitive capacity, rather than merely a

tool for regulating it.