Buy into Dubai, Columbia

Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, which came together to form a country when British protection of the Trucial States ended in the 1970s. Since then, Dubai, which had been a smuggling and pearl-diving harbor, saw itself become the face of Middle Eastern development, much to the chagrin and envy of its neighbors. I remember asking my friend from the Columbia Model U.N. team, Margaret—who is from a small town in the southern U.S.—if she knew about Dubai. I was expecting the usual response related to the Middle East: “What’s that?” “Where’s that?” or even the occasional “Who is that?” Marge’s immediate response was quite the opposite: “Heard about it? I really want to go there one day.” She actually persuaded me, as the team head delegate, to allow her to represent the UAE at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum at Georgetown’s Model U.N. conference this weekend.

Dubai’s rapid development has seen it positioned as a major, world-class port feeding the economies of many neighboring states, and also as a key shopping destination for the entire MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia) region. In fact, many in my family fondly call it “Do-buy!” Last year, at Arab Week at Harvard Business School, I and the delegation from Columbia met with an Emirati gentleman, an HBS alum who was deeply involved with U.S.-UAE negotiations on finalizing a civilian nuclear energy treaty. This year, the negotiations led to the signing of a deal that has further beefed up Dubai’s global clout and prominence. It is small wonder, then, that Columbia students from parts of the U.S. usually stereotyped as having little global awareness are acutely aware of Dubai’s existence.

However, Dubai’s success has not been without its pitfalls. Gargantuan oil price hikes in the 2000s further fed Dubai’s fetish for buildings only taller than their owners’ appetites for rapid growth. Dubai began to increase the scope of what it stood for with the creation of massive Education, Health, Financial, and Media cities. Its companies started investing all over the globe, buying soccer teams in England and almost coming to own the ports of New York, New Jersey, and Miami, among other major U.S. ports, until saber-rattling from Congress put an end to that deal. It was against this backdrop of success after success that, when the financial crisis began in the U.S., many pundits were sure that Dubai, like other emerging markets, would survive the ensuing rumble. Analysts went so far as to say, “It’s Dubai, Shanghai, Mumbai, or goodbye.”

But Dubai’s spiraling debt got the better of it, and it almost defaulted on its bonds until the elder emirate of Abu Dhabi saved it. The bursting of the Dubai construction bubble left many wondering about the wisdom behind its over-ambitious transformation into a financial, logistic, and tourist hub. This vindicated those critics who had for years called Dubai a bubble on the verge of bursting.

Dubai’s importance to the region is much more than what its mere 1,500-square-mile size would imply. Its successes have galvanized its much-richer neighbors, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, to pursue similar diversification and precipitated a regional trend. Saudi Arabia is building new economic cities worth tens of billions of dollars (being built under the aegis of Dubai’s flagship construction company).

Dubai has also taken the lead on human development and world issues. In 2009 alone, the UAE contributed $2.43 billion—95 percent of which was in the form of grants—to humanitarian, developmental, and charity projects across the globe. On the home front, in 2004, Dubai ended its practice of using child laborers as jockeys for camel racing. All child laborers were repatriated to their home countries and provided adequate sums for their rehabilitation.

Dubai is now setting the trend for civic duty and world responsibility. This puts Dubai at the forefront as an economic and social leader of the modern Middle East, and beckons for greater involvement with this very important country. It is perhaps sad that Columbia, with its beau ideal location in New York, has never had a speaker from Dubai at the World Leaders Forum. While leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can provide powerful theatrics and divisiveness on campus, inviting Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai would have been more fruitful.

Many of Columbia’s brightest students of yesteryear are currently working in the Gulf region and in Dubai. Former Columbia College Student Council President Sue Yang is working for a top consulting firm, and many of the world’s best consulting firms are increasing their involvement in the region.

Columbia must also increase its footprint in resource-rich Dubai. King’s Academy in Jordan is a marvelous first footprint to sink into the Middle East, but it is not nearly enough. This year, the Ivy Council is planning its “Ivy Middle East summit” with Dubai as a major highlight. If NYU can go to Abu Dhabi, why can’t we go to Dubai? I think Margaret, Sue, and a host of others at Columbia will all agree.

The author is a senior majoring in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies. He is the president of the Muslim Students Association and the head delegate of the Columbia Model United Nations team.