DUBAI, May 22 — The United Arab Emirates said yesterday it has launched a permanent residency scheme to attract wealthy individuals and highly skilled workers to the oil-rich Gulf country.

The "Golden Card” programme is open to investors and "exceptional talents” such as doctors, engineers, scientists and artists, said UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is also Dubai’s ruler.

"We want them to be permanent partners in our journey. Residents are an indispensable part of our country,” he said in a statement.

A first group of 6,800 investors with investments totalling 100 billion dirhams (RM114 billion) were being given permanent residency, he said.

It is the first such scheme in the Gulf, where foreigners are generally only given limited duration residence permits under the "kafala” sponsorship system.

Foreigners account for 90 per cent of the population of around nine million in the UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy which has seen rapid development in recent years. — AFP