By hosting the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the tiny emirate of Dubai is hoping to position itself as the region's unrivalled financial hub.
Some 16,000 visitors, including world economic leaders and bank governors, are expected to gather in Dubai for the Sept. 17 to 24 meetings, which will discuss and try to find solutions to major global economic issues.
The combined forces of nearly 50 hotels in the city are to handle the accommodation requirements for visitors to this small city of 1.3 million residents, most of them foreign workers from the Indian subcontinent.
In only 30 years Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the federation of the United Arab Emirates, has gone from an impoverished desert backwater, whose population was sustained by pearl diving and fishing, to a vibrant business hub.
The force behind the transformation has been Dubai's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose family presides over the fabulously wealthy emirate that has carved out a reputation as the region's trade, tourism, sports and information-technology capital.
The Al-Maktoums have invested billions to create the modern city-state that began earning its wealth from oil, but has now diversified into trade, finance and tourism. Already, some 60 percent of government revenue comes from non-oil sources.
The emirate has recently established the region's first money, capital and reinsurance markets under the umbrella of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).
Many top Western banks and brokers represented at the Dubai 2003 meetings of the IMF and the World Bank are expected to be among those signing up with the DIFC.
This is the first time the global meeting has been hosted by an Arab country and UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash believes that every country in the region should maximize the opportunities presented by the event.
But hosting the meeting has not been without its difficulties. Dubai and the federal government have shelled out some 1 billion dirhams (US$275 million) for facilities and infrastructure.
With the meetings only days away, security bodies are on maximum alert not only for international terrorist attacks but also because of the presence of an Israeli delegation in the country for the first time.
Like many Arab countries, the UAE does not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state but the IMF and World Bank require host countries to accept all the delegations from 184 affiliated countries, including Israel.
For the first time in the UAE the Israeli flag is on public display outside the convention halls.
IMF and World Bank meetings are a magnet for sometimes violent protests by those who believe the two bodies only serve capitalist interests and make poor countries poorer.
Those who wish to express their views through peaceful demonstrations were free to do so, said the head of security for the meeting, but known violent protestors would be barred from the UAE during the meetings.
Nevertheless, the US has warned its citizens in the UAE of possible violent demonstrations during the meetings.
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