The Dean

To coincide with the Bush visit, HH wrote this column for the WSJ.

Interesting stuff about Dubai etc........... excuse my cut-and-paste, but the format came out blonde......

08:05 12Jan08 DJN-WSJ(1/12) Column: Our Ambitions For The Middle East
WSJ(1/12) Column: Our Ambitions For The Middle East

(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
By Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum

(Editor's Note: Sheikh Mohammed completed two years as ruler of the
Emirate of Dubai, and vice president and prime minister of the United Arab
Emirates, earlier this week. His memoir will be published later this year.)

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.
As a child, I learned how important it was to establish an enabling
economy where the government provided incentives and an ethics-based regulatory environment, but left it to the inventiveness and energy of the private sector to expedite economic growth.
I learned my capitalism in the bazaars and boardwalks of Dubai. And
perhaps the fundamental question that I learned to always ask was: How can we serve as agents of positive change? That's why I prefer to call Dubai "Catalyst Inc."
We live in a tough neighborhood. We live in a country that has been
surrounded by difficult issues for several decades -- the Iraq-Iran war, the
invasion of Kuwait, the current war in Iraq. Despite all that, Dubai has learned
how to reinvent itself and cope.
We believe that helping to build a strong regional economy is our best
opportunity for lasting social stability in the Middle East. That's why,
for instance, we strongly support the new Gulf Common Market, which was
launched on Jan. 1 and which will eventually lead to more regional economic
integration, enhanced intra-Gulf trade, and a common currency for the six countries that form the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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.
When there was resistance to our investment in some European
bourses, we listened carefully to various arguments and then successfully
negotiated our way through the situation. As with CEOs in corporate boardrooms, leaders of sovereign nations need to act collaboratively in order to engender progress.
It doesn't take the visit of a capitalism-boosting American president for
this region to freshly understand that it needs to accelerate economic progress.
When you look at the region, there are parts that are behind compared
to the rest of the world -- behind when it comes to the economy, business and social development. We would like these less-developed parts of the region to be like Europe, Japan, Singapore and the rest of the industrialized world.
Nearly 1.5 billion people live in our neighborhood, and more than 50% of them are under the age of 25. In the Arab world alone, some 80 million young
people -- out of a total population of 300 million -- are seeking jobs. I look at
these young people as extraordinary resources for nation-building. If we can
take our vision beyond Dubai, I think we can save a lot of young people from
humiliating unemployment, from becoming extremists.

Education and entrepreneurship are the twin underpinnings for building a
safer world. With these two institutions, we'll have fewer angry young people,
fewer frustrated youths ready to embrace radicalism because they have nowhere else to turn.
I am often asked, "What does Dubai really want?" Well, here's my answer: What we want is the continuation of a journey that began with my forebears.
I truly believe that human beings have a tremendous capability of changing and improving their lot. Change and modernization are inevitable in this age of
galloping globalization. But we in the Middle East need to continually and
carefully calibrate that change in the public interest.
I am also often asked, "What are Dubai's political ambitions?" Well, here's
my answer: We don't have political ambitions. We don't want to be a superpower or any other kind of political power. The whole region is over-politicized as it is. We don't see politics as our thing, we don't want it, we don't think this is the right thing to do.
We are engaged in a different type of war that's really worth fighting --
fighting to alleviate poverty, generating better education, creating economic
opportunity for people, and teaching people everywhere how to be
entrepreneurs, to believe in themselves.
Humility and tolerance run deep in the Maktoum family and are very
important in trying to serve one's people. I am anchored in that tradition, which is why my favorite activity is listening.
I always ask: How can I help? What can I do for people? How can I
improve people's lives? That's part of my value system. It's too late for me to
change that system, but it isn't too early for me to say to the world that the
Dubai narrative is all about changing people's lives for the better through
smart capitalism, willpower and positive energy.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Madam Medusa

interesting article, the dean, thanks for posting...

MM, xx

Confucius

You had me at "the Bush"...

lionheart

Does His Excellency really believe that our neighborhood comprises 1.5 billion people? If so, it may help to explain the reason for his grandiose ambitions.

Confucius

People in a 500 mile radius...

Madam Medusa

well if we're gonna get picky...he also uses a few split infinitives, my pet hate...

MM, xx

Inselaffen

probably including India in that, which historically and economically is within the UAE's neighbourhood!

Confucius

LH radius is 500 feet...

The Dean

And with this comment, he appears to solve the extremism issue at a stroke........ very bold...........

I think we can save a lot of young people from
humiliating unemployment, from becoming extremists.

Education and entrepreneurship are the twin underpinnings for building a
safer world. With these two institutions, we'll have fewer angry young people,
fewer frustrated youths ready to embrace radicalism because they have nowhere else to turn.

minang

I still remember some 'stupid' comments made by some US Senators during the Dubai Ports episode in the US. Suddenly a normal business deal became a hot political issue thanks to the media and, of course, 'stupid' Senators.

The Dean

You mean Hillary don't you........?