"Our Ambitions for the Middle East
By MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM
January 12, 2008; Page A9
During President Bush's visit to Dubai on Monday, he will find a big city like no other that has risen from the Arabian desert. The joke making the rounds here is that the crane should be designated as Dubai's national bird, so extensive is the engineering activity. We also plan to keep on investing in markets and businesses abroad, including in our own neighborhood, where economic development has long been uneven.
Our plans do not flow from mere ambition; they are a necessity. Consider that only 3% of our revenue is from exports of diminishing crude-oil reserves; 30% is from tourism, and there's increasing revenue from manufacturing and other sectors such as hospitality, technology and transportation.
But to term our emirate "Dubai Inc.," as some do, suggests that commerce, more than anything else, is our leitmotif. It is true, of course, that Dubai has been a trading port and a commercial hub for several centuries. But the ethos of Dubai was, and is, all about building bridges to the outside world; it was, and is, about creating connections with different cultures.
[...]
There are more initiatives underway, many of which are aimed at ensuring prompt payment of salaries, and improvements in working conditions for unskilled foreign workers. While capitalism doesn't always create egalitarian societies, I like to think that in Dubai we are making the effort to cast the net wide when it comes to sharing prosperity.
I also like to think that we in Dubai also learn from our mistakes. We have had some object lessons. The Dubai Ports episode in the U.S. last year was one.
We analyzed our experiences, and we now approach our international investments in a much more holistic manner. We take the time to analyze the social, political and economic landscape, identify the stakeholders, and then carefully prepare the way by ensuring that the concerns of all parties are properly addressed. When disputes occur, we generally find a way to work through them."
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5 comments:
That is a very professionally written article in the WSJ and the first from what I believe from a Ruler in Power.
I don’t know why but I feel its more on the defensive side or rather from a field report point of view to a visiting Head of State.
Dubai, Inc. – LOL, that’s a cool term Sheikh Mohammed has used in this article. Looks like he’s been doing his homework checking out local blogs to see first hand what people say about Dubai and its spiraling climb to the top!
Bravo :)
Catalyst, Inc. – that’s awesome too! I like this grand buck word. So, Dubai is an incorporated corporation, after all!
All in All, this article is a pretty product from a group of fine and creative writer(s). What’s portrayed in there and to what extent Dubai's image sells in the Western or for that matter worldwide media remains to be seen in the long run!
The entire piece was also published in today's 'Business 24/7'.
Hats off to the ghostwriter!
That is very well-written, very nicely worded. It has a mix of formality and chic, not at all boring or predictable, like Bush's pronouncements, for example.
interesting..
A good story,
How ever as you came to Vancouver when I invited you to do business here. i am hoping that you will return, my request was for a business partner in Canada. Not to sell out to Dubai World Inc. We would like to do business with you as a partner. As you did come after my comment to you in Lloyds. How about coming back agian, only as a partner this time !
You need iron & steel, shipyards, railcars and much more we can do business for !
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