Dubai has made the Arab dream possible

Dubai's most important gift to the Arab world is that it has broken that terrible psychological barrier, which has disrupted many Arab dreams,  basing on the fact that catching up with the first world is not difficult, but impossible. Dubai, then, came to turn this idea upside down. Yes, our Arab world can build a city like New York, Manchester, and Hong Kong. This is not impossible. The issue is based on a leadership that is able to see the future without barriers.

Dubai has aborted the cry of the great British poet Rudyard Kipling, who thought that « East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet ». While in Dubai, the continents of the world converge, as if this small city in the Middle East is a practical embodiment of the era of globalization and an assertion that "the world is flat," as Thomas Friedman, the most famous of those who wrote about world globalization, says. Dubai is a living proof that this world is one village. One big village.

In a few years, Dubai has been transformed from a coastal emirate, disturbed by dusty tropical storms, with small mud houses scattered on its banks, into a global platform where global experiences meet with the local, creating multiple intellectual streams, which contribute significantly to development, economic mobility, and support emerging business projects.

In the largest economic forum in the Middle East, the World Investment Forum in Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, said the region was dominated by a traditional administrative style, the management of existing wealth, until the ruler of Dubai came to change the equation.

This is indeed Dubai's great secret and charm. It is an emirate that does not possess many natural resources, just a little oil, a bit of nature, much of the sea, and much of the desert. However, it has managed to turn its weakness into a force by opening the door to cadres capable of working, investing, and not fearing new ideas. It has also become a place where people can achieve their dreams. Everyone who comes to Dubai for work carries his dream in his heart, and many have been able to make a great place and a position for themselves in the world of economics, arts, and commerce. The efficiency of Dubai's marketing system has made many people think that this small emirate is only a protracted parade party, just a fabric of tall towers and the crazy projects. But when you look deeply, you discover that this is not accurate, but rather part of the picture, not the whole picture. As Dubai has the most efficient infrastructure in the Middle East and has been able to balance its Arab and Islamic traditions without being deterred from catching up with modernity.

All of this success achieved by Dubai, as it seems, is not enough for its leadership. In an interview with Afshin Molavi, a famous journalist, published by Newsweek, a well-known American magazine, Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, says that he has achieved only 10 percent of his dreams. This is why Mulavi wrote: "He is a sheik in the traditional Arab way and an executive director in the modern Western way."