Time To Stop Beating Up On The UAE

Right now newspapers across the USA are alive with anti United Arab Emirates editorial linked to a proposed takeover of some U.S. ports in a deal that was engineered and approved between the UK company P&O and Dubai Ports World.
     The transaction in question is the $6.8 billion acquisition of the British P&O shipping company by Dubai Ports World.
     For the record, the U.S. is not in the port management business. As a matter of fact when P&O sells its port business to Dubai Ports World, England will be out of that business as well.
     Among P&O's numerous worldwide operations are contracts to operate port facilities in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
     The U.S. ports will run under U.S. law with staff and procedures just as before. The vision of UAE importing labor or changing regulations is false, thus the idea of raising the probability of a security breech is just as untrue.
     The deal was approved by the Bush administration after it gained thumbs up from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment.
     That group asseses the security implications of foreign acquisitions of major U.S. infrastructure assets.
     U.S. officials say that both P&O and Dubai Ports World have excellent security records.
     We are thinking about what appears to be a mindless knee jerk reaction up and down and all around America right now.
     When you step and look at it, most of the excitement, the airplane orders and the greatest development in the airline business are happening in the United Arab Emirates.
     Emirates Airline is a good example.
     

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates Airline

     Without Emirates there would be no A380 and Boeing’s order book and hopes for selling big blocks of aircraft in the future would be diminished.
     Yet in America when we tell friends and colleagues that we plan a business trip to Dubai, one of seven United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country located between Saudi Arabia to the west; a body of water and Iran to the east, and Kuwait to the north, many people frown upon the idea.
     “Too dangerous,” is a constant comment.
     But “Where’s Dubai?” is a second reaction.
     The wonder is why do otherwise well-meaning people automatically advise somebody to stay away from a place or shrink away from a perfectly normal business deal such as the port operations in question right now, even though they are not quite sure where Dubai is or what the details of the port deal include?
     We couldn’t help but recall that 30 years ago, when drafted into the U.S. Army and ordered to Vietnam, reaction was:
     “Good—go stand up for America,” and:
     “Where is that place?”
     New twist on an old mistake, we thought.
     Unfortunately today, immersed in a terrible, relentless and unnecessary war in Iraq, many Americans constantly pull up images of those September terrorists, and somehow lump a few bad apples together with millions of law-abiding men and women who look, dress and talk differently than we do, minding their own business in the Muslim world.
     Daily, Arabs go about their lives, posing no threat to anyone.
     What we find in Dubai surpasses anything in a press kit, or on CNN, or available in some virtual tour on the Internet.
     Dubai is a bit like Crystal City, Virginia and Washington D.C.—only warmer.
     You are as likely to get bitten by business opportunity as anything else in Dubai today.
     The greatest building boom in the world is going on in Dubai.
     Today, the Emirate is growing up all at once with construction of roads and other infrastructure, tall buildings, neighborhoods and even the world’s largest man-made islands that are rising off the coast of Dubai.

Geoffrey Arend at the Dubai Museum. "Looking at history is a good place to start."

     Maybe, Dubai is hard to spot on your map, but when Palm Island is finished, it will extend 5.5 kilometers into the sea, adding 120 kilometers of coastline, 40 more hotels, 1,200 residential villas, shopping malls and entire neighborhoods to greater Dubai.
     Americans should know that Dubai offers incredible opportunity in every aspect of business and commerce in a tax-free, pro-business atmosphere.
     Dubai is also friendly and safe.
     We spent nights in local residents’ homes, enjoying the food and hospitality of the area.
     Right away, you notice that it is not uncommon to see women walking alone or together, unescorted at any hour of the day or night.
     From the spice and gold souks, to the Heritage Village restoration of antique homes, to the all-night action at the waterfront, the streets of Dubai around the clock are among the safest in the world.
     Speaking of women, all of us have seen the image of Middle Eastern females dressed in ‘mysterious,’ dark abbayahs, hijabs or burqas, masked and subservient to men.
     But guess what?
In Dubai, women are empowered to be leaders. Whether in business or at home, Dubai women are a major reason that the Emirate is experiencing phenomenal growth.
     The black flowing abbayah is worn to work with pride as business garments of tradition by powerhouse women in charge of everything from Dubai Customs Service to the Duty Free Zone.
     Take a look at Dubai.
     Maybe the pain of nearly five years ago, and just plain anger, misinformation or fear, makes that perspective tough for some Americans to take.
     But just like we did, take a closer look at a part of the world we Americans need to know more about.
     We think, in Dubai, you’ll like what you see.
(Geoffrey Arend)