Capital: Abu Dhabi

Time: Local time + GMT + 3 hour

Holidays and Day offs: December 2 (National Day), January 1 (New Year), Holidays with changing dates: Id Al Feetr- Muslim Holiday of after Ramadan. Id Al Adkha- Muslim Holiday of Sacrifice, New Year according to Muslim Calendar, Prophet's Birthday (Milyd and Naby)

National characteristics: Women's clothes must be simple; they greet men with slight bow without holding out their hand. To greet a married woman by shaking her hand is prohibited. To enter an Arab's house in shoes is not allowed. If the hostess goes before you and enters in shoes it means that the prohibition is declined. Arabs are full of rancor. Revenge can remain after several decades. Food and drinks are to be given and taken by right hand. If there are no forks, then you are to wash your right hand and take food with your hand. Giving strong drinks to natives as a present or souvenir is categorically forbidden. You are not allowed to pass before the prying man. During Ramadan one should never eat, drink, smoke and chew in streets or in public before sunset. Ramadan is a month of Muslim post and disrespect to their traditions can bring to being fined or even imprisoned. In a Muslim country it's necessary to reach mutual understanding with the other party. The meeting starts with hand shakes and at the same time it's compulsory to look straight into the interlocutor's eyes. Greeting with a cigarette in hand or with one's hand in pocket is not allowed.Talk starts with questions about self-filling, heath of family members. Citizens of this country don't hurry, they don't like risking. Businessmen speak fluent English, business - documentation is executed in this language.

Geographic sketch: The United Arab Emirates cover an area in the South-East of the Arabic peninsula and border Katter, Oman Sultanate and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is washed by Oman and Persian Gulfs. The total area of the UAE is 83.6 sq/km.
Climate: Dry subtropical climate. There are annually five days in average. The most favorable time to travel to the UEA is from May, when the temperature changes from 18 C to 30 C. During this period (esp. in February) rains are possible. The temperature may go up to +50C in summer with high humidity. The average temperature is:

Language: The official language is Arabic; English, Hindi, Urdu and Fraise are also used. As a result of a great flow of Russian tourists, a great number of signboards and announcements have appeared in Russian in Dubai in recent years. Many sellers and hotel servers know basic Russian.

Currency: Dirham

Currency Exchange: Banks as a rule are open from 8.00 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. from Saturday to Thursday. Some of them also work from 16.00 p.m. to 18.30 p.m. On Thursdays banks are open from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. Exchange points are open from 8.30 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. and from 16.30 p.m. to 20.30 p.m.

Custom's rules: The import of printed or video-production of erotic character, likewise anything which may offence the religious feelings of Muslims or may be perceived as unfriendly attitude towards the government is prohibited. First of all it concerns journals or video-tapes with elements which to Armenian standards are considered as innocent erotic, custom representatives may temporarily confiscate imported video-tapes or printed materials for examination. The import of strong drinks is strongly supervised (2 L. of wine, 2 L. of strong drinks and in Shardga only 400 cigars or 2 kg of tobacco) perfume or eau-de-Cologne (150 gr). The import of strong drinks by the citizens of the UAE is strongly forbidden. Officially strong drinks are served at restaurants and bars at the airport or hotels (a bottle of beer costs 3 USD). The import and export of any kind of currency is not limited.

Transport: Taxies: Nowadays there exist two types of Taxis in Dubai - Taxi without meter and "Dubai Transport" company taxi equipped with meter. The latter charges a dirham for each km. In taxies without meter the fee is 5 dirham.

Communication: International communication code-00 (ABY-Dhabi), UAE country code -971. Hugodoms and city codes: 02-Abu Dhabi, Myssofa, 03-Al Ayn, 04-Dubai, 06-Shardga, Ymmal-Kyvein, 07-Ras al-Khama, 09-Fudjera, Dubai, 070-Korjakan, 050-mobile phones. Calls from street tax-phones within Emirates may cost you from 30 to 60 files. Especially for this 50 files coins, also 1 and 5 dirham or special plastic cards of with 30, 45, 60 dirham balance are used. You can get them at shops and petrol-stations.

Shops: A great variety of goods at favorable prices is one of the reasons that great many people aspire to get to the UAE. And the expression "Shop-mongers' paradise" is used not in vain. Free trade rules and low prices guarantee business progress in this country. The centre of Trade is Dubai; the capital of the country is Aby-Dabhi, also Shardja and Adjman. At Dubai's car salons one can buy a car at a low price (delivery to Moscow through Helsinki), in souvenir shop items made of gold equal World Market prices (the prices in Dubai are one of the lowest in the World), whilst in other cities of the UAE - furniture (from brands worldwide) consumer electronics, computers and other electronics. Trade festival is hold in Dubai every year and fascinates with its wonderful sales, great number of entertainment programs and various lotteries.

Tips: Tips are not included in the bill; leaving only 10% from the total bill would be enough. Tips are to be given in case of good service only.

Urgent numbers: Ambulance-999, Police-999, Fire service-997, Inquiry service-180, precise time-140, facsimile-130