Oxford Business Group launches its authoritative The Report: Dubai 2007

Rated as the premier guide for foreign direct investment into the country's vibrant economy, The Report is an invaluable guide to the many facets of Dubai, including its macroeconomics, infrastructure, political landscape, banking and sectoral developments, and presents a remarkably in-depth profile of the emirate.

The Report: Dubai 2007 publication has been introduced by the OBG in association with Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry as its main research partner and co-publisher. Eng. Hamad Buamim, Director General of Dubai Chamber, stressed the significance of this publication for being an indispensable source of information that provides the business community with the characteristics of Dubai's economic development in all sectors.

"The jointly-effort in producing this significant publication with the OBG copes with Dubai Chamber's own policy which focuses on serving and protecting the interests of the business community and enabling members to deal with the global changes in the world of economy. The new Report book provides our members, investors and businessmen worldwide with up-to-date and detailed information about the features of Dubai's economic development and the attractive investment opportunities and incentives the emirate has to offer," said Buamim.

The 200-page second annual OBG report on the emirate, with a distribution of 76,000, has been produced by a team of six OBG analysts based in Dubai for six months, who conducted some two hundred interviews with leading political and economic figures.

The Report: Dubai 2007 features a series of exclusive interviews with key officials and business leaders in what is considered the most extensive, independent, unbiased and accurate intelligence available.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, outlined how the emirate is becoming a global player and successfully diversifying its economy towards high value-added sectors.

"The rate of growth we are witnessing right now means that the demands on the younger generation and the expectations from them will exceed those of previous generations," he said.

"UAE nationals need to explore new areas, participate in the private sector and compete with international talent, as well as developing entrepreneurial skills."

The global aspirations of Dubai, inspired by its diversification, is profiled by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World, who asserts:

"Dubai has come into its own in the past five years, launching wholeheartedly into measures to diversify the economy and divest state holdings. Dubai has developed an uncanny ability to maintain pole position in a region awash with energy and cash, and not all the emirate's success can be attributed to petrodollars."

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, talked of a strategy to promote Emirates and the Dubai brand globally, with Dubai World Central providing Emirates with greater expansion capabilities and flexibility, an assertion backed by Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group, who praised the "open skies" policy of Dubai, which is helping to make the emirate one of the world's most important air hubs.

Sultan Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor, UAE Central Bank, underlines the initiative shown in liberalising the banking sector, which has resulted in considerable interest from countries such as China and India in establishing an operational presence in the UAE.

The new face of banking is presented by Hussain Hamid Hassan, Chairman, Sharia board, Dubai Islamic Bank, who said:

"The market is huge and even if there are 100 Islamic banks, they will still get their share depending on the competition and the level of their service - especially those who would want to get away from interest-based borrowings. That means Islamic banks have great potential to grow at the cost of conventional banks, provided they uphold sharia principles in conducting their business."

Essa Abdulfattah Kazim, Chairman, Dubai Financial Market, saw a rise from a rocky 2006: "We now believe there will be good quality IPOs which will add value to the market and benefit companies with good track records." Per Larsson, CEO, Dubai International Financial Exchange, said he would like to see UAE companies listed on DIFX, and wants to attract some larger companies to list exclusively on the exchange, but claims: "I believe it's a good thing to have multiple exchanges and not concentrate all the liquidity on one bourse."

A public transport transformation, based on a 318-km metro system and a 270-km tramway at the heart of a Dh35bn investment, was highlighted by Mattar al-Tayer, CEO and Chairman of the Roads and Transport Authority, who predicted that it would increase use of the system from 5% to 30%.

Available in print form and online, The Report: Dubai 2007 has been produced with OBG's official national partner, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and with the National Bank of Dubai as banking partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers as accountancy partner, Shuaa Capital as capital market partner, and Al Tamimi & Company as legal research partner.

It is part of the range of OBG's publications, which are renowned as leading sources of information on developing and emerging economies around the world.