The Sharjah FDI Forum 2017 has revealed that the industrial sector alone has pumped approximately AED40 billion of the emirate's gross national product, GNP, accounting for 25 percent of the total output.

Panel discussions at the event also revealed that the Sharjah Free Zone has successfully hosted more than 14,000 companies hailing from over 162 countries that were attracted to the flexible work mechanisms that take only 60 minutes to extract a trading license.