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RAK’s path towards economic diversification started early and has seen it transform into an industrial and manufacturing hub, supported by targeted resource development, a fast-expanding network of free zones, and government efforts to promote and incentivise investment. The emirate’s GDP growth was reported at 7.6% in 2013, reaching $7.05bn, with manufacturing representing the single-largest economic sector, contributing 25.1% of GDP. This chapter contains an interview with Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chairman, Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ).

This chapter provides an overview of Mexico’s legal framework, covering a range of topics from the recent financial and energy reforms to pension funds. In addition, it features a viewpoint by Juan José Lopez de Silanes, Partner, Basham, Ringe y Correa on the energy reform.

This chapter provides an overview of Mexico’s tax regime, covering areas of particular interest to investors such as individual and corporate income tax, dividend taxation, foreign operations, tax audits and other investor considerations. This chapter includes an interview with Carlos Méndez, Territory Senior Partner at PwC México.

Despite the pressure Mexico’s demographic boom has placed on its education system, the sector has made notable progress in the past decade, with coverage, especially in primary education, having increased considerably. The system is now faced with the substantial challenge of raising the overall quality of education and increasing coverage at the post-secondary and tertiary levels, while reducing high drop-out rates. Recognising the strategic importance of education in raising Mexico’s economic competitiveness, the government passed an important structural reform in 2013 aimed at improving the quality and increasing the efficiency of the system. In 2015, nearly two years after the reform passed, progress is visible, but resistance from Mexico’s powerful teachers’ unions has resulted in a less-than-smooth implementation of changes. Following through with the reform, despite the opposition of the unions, will prove key to breaking the decades-long status quo and ensuring long-term quality and efficiency improvements for the sector

A decade after the introduction of the Popular Health Insurance Scheme, the national insurance programme, Mexico has made tremendous progress toward attaining universal coverage, albeit limited. The country is now striving to guarantee universal access to health care, not an easy feat for a fragmented system suffering from decades of under-spending. While the sector reform announced by the government in 2013 has taken a backseat in the context of fiscal constraints, steps to increase integration among public institutions and between the public and private sectors continue, as part of a countrywide effort to increase efficiency and curb rising costs. As a result, greater cooperation among public institutions and between the public and private sectors should be expected in the coming years. Meanwhile, as standards of living improve, driving demand for health care services, Mexico will remain a key market in Latin America, providing opportunities for drug and device manufacturers. This chapter includes interviews with Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, Managing Director, Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) and Sandra Sánchez y Oldenhage, Director-General, PROBIOMED.