Cloud Regions in the UAE: AWS, Google Cloud and Azure
Regions, time zones and data protection law for cloud teams in United Arab Emirates.
The UAE has an AWS region (me-central-1) and two Azure regions, uaenorth in Dubai and uaecentral in Abu Dhabi. Google Cloud has no UAE region; its nearest is me-central1 in Doha, Qatar. Two nearby regions are easy to mistake for UAE regions: AWS me-south-1 is in Bahrain and Google Cloud me-central2 is in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Cloud regions in United Arab Emirates
| Provider | Region | Location |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | me-central-1 | not stated by AWS |
| Google Cloud | none | none |
| Azure | uaenorth | Dubai |
| Azure | uaecentral | Abu Dhabi |
AWS me-central-1 is an opt-in region and has to be enabled on the account. If a residency requirement means data must stay in the UAE, the Bahrain and Saudi regions do not meet it.
Scheduling on local time
The UAE uses Asia/Dubai, with no daylight saving time. Check your company’s actual working week before copying a schedule from an office elsewhere.
Time zones: Asia/Dubai. Currency: AED.
Data protection law
The federal law is Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (PDPL). The DIFC and ADGM free zones run their own data protection regimes, so the applicable rules depend on where your entity is registered.
Nearby countries
Israel, India. For every country, see cloud regions by country.
Questions we get a lot.
If yours isn't here, email us and we'll answer directly.
Is AWS me-south-1 in the UAE?
No. me-south-1 is in Bahrain. The AWS region in the UAE is me-central-1.
Does Google Cloud have a UAE region?
No. The nearest Google Cloud regions are me-central1 (Doha) and me-central2 (Dammam).