Optimistic message from Al Gore to the GCC Economic Forum

Former US vice-president Al Gore was in Dubai on Saturday to address the 2nd GCC Economic Forum, a conference organized by the local IT group Datamatix with an invited audience of around two hundred.

In his initial presentation Mr. Gore managed to avoid mentioning the likely imminent second Gulf War almost entirely in an upbeat assessment of the outlook for the global economy. His faith in technology as a driving force is undiminished by the three-year IT recession in the United States and stock market slump.

'The global economy is in a state of transformation,' he said. 'China is emerging as the Saudi Arabia of manufacturing in that it is the dominant force in one sector. This causes problems for neighboring states like Thailand, Taiwan and Japan.

'Japan is trapped in a 12 year recession, and the European Union is suffering from a monetary union with economic and not political convergence. Latin America is also locked in stagnation, and we have big budget deficits putting pressure on the US dollar.

'But I remain convinced of the underlying strength of the US economy and that the IT revolution is adding more and more new value to the US economy. We can look back at previous speculative bubbles but IT has made a fantastic addition to the US economy and that is not going away'.

However, Mr. Gore returned for a second presentation on how to improve the GCC economy. Here he highlighted the recent progress of Dubai - with 7.5-9% GDP growth in key sectors in 2002 - and noted that real estate and industrial investment were the engines of economic growth.

'The Dubai government has been a leader in e-government and its IT infrastructure investments will further boost economic growth,' he added. 'There will also be positive pay-offs for its large investments in tourism'.

On the possible war in Iraq, Mr. Gore finally felt able to comment. 'The uncertainty of the war itself and its possible aftermath weighs heavily and we do not know the consequences,' he said. 'What will a post-war Iraq be like? What will happen to the oil markets? What will happen to public opinion in the Arab world?'

These questions the 54-year old former US vice president left unanswered. His diplomatic and political skills are still honed to perfection. Indeed, the best pointer to his real feelings came in the conclusion to his first presentation, which was quite out of context with most of his other remarks.

'The hope is for fantastic economic growth with the integration of this region with the rest of the world. I have no doubt whatsoever from the dynamism I have experienced in Dubai that new technology and modernization will put the Gulf region and Dubai in particular at the frontier of economic advancement.'

In response to questions, he added, 'Dubai is forward looking and we will appreciate for years to come the feeling towards the US. Dubai is very positive in the process of dialogue and cooperation and we appreciate it.'