Dubai Strategy Forum paints a bold future vision

This week's Dubai Strategy Forum was a big event. There was a big guest star: Prince Alwaleed. There was a big agenda: creating networks of growth. And this was an event big on strategic vision.

There was also a very large audience for a Dubai conference, with some 1,000 participants, mostly from the upper reaches of regional management. Moreover, the conference was exceptionally well organized with CNN's ex-anchorman Riz Khan setting a world-class standard of chairmanship.

Yet many delegates complained that although a lot was said, not much was really being said. Perhaps they misunderstood the coded language of the Middle East that often reveals a good deal but needs some translation.

Prince Alwaleed's speech was a case in point. His highness has become something of a politician as well as a famous investor in recent years. To the casual listener his presentation appeared to say not much more than, 'networking made me what I am today, all Arabs should get networking, we used to be very good at it in the distant past'.

The sub-text is more subtle. This is a member of the ruling Al Saud family calling for more openness in the conduct of business. For such a closed country as Saudi Arabia this is pretty revolutionary, and amounts to a plea to integrate with the outside world.

Prince Alwaleed has become as a kind of goodwill ambassador for the kingdom. Indeed, he was careful enough to blame many of the misperceptions of Saudi society on to the Western press and its overwhelming desire for a good story, true or false. But again the subtext was that if Saudi were more open, it would not be misrepresented so much.

The conference also concerned itself with democracy and democratic values, with Bahrain the most recent Gulf country to hold parliamentary elections. However, the view of the floor seemed a pragmatic one, and democratic values were held to be more important than the institutions of a democracy. These values can flourish outside democratic institutions, although that is obviously not always the case.

Yet may be the summing up session was the most interesting. Its bold title, what will be the situation in the region in five years' time?

The optimistic vision that emerged was a region at peace with itself. This included a Palestinian state, a new regime in Iraq, modernizers in charge in Iran, and greater economic integration. The downside was that the region faced some loss of autonomy (due to American intervention) and the challenges of a much lower oil price and growing populations.

Perhaps it was not surprising that Dubai emerged as the hub of the new Middle East at the Dubai Strategy Forum. But there was an amazing congruence of opinion in this regard, from Prince Alwaleed who praised the emirate a 'model city state' to first-time visitors to Dubai from all over the world.

Hopefully, the forum marked a change in direction for the region, and it may be an occasion that people look back on as moment that did mark a break with the past. For whatever the geo-political challenges of the next six months (that's code for a war in Iraq), there is a much brighter future ahead if the region chooses to follow it.