In the early 21st century, virtually all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—showcased levels of economic development and infrastructure expansion not seen since the 1970s oil boom. Indeed, metaphorically speaking, the Gulf states, especially the UAE’s largest emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, had welcomed the return of an earlier era’s most omnipresent bird: the building crane. In 2007 the mixed-use Burj (“Tower”) Dubai, the final height of which was expected to exceed 800 m (2,640 ft), was officially designated the world’s tallest structure, despite the fact that it was still under construction. Numerous factors and forces drove the boom: the vast public- and private-sector capital accumulation made possible by record-high oil and natural-gas revenues, the extension of what was already a sustained business-friendly environment, and the GCC region’s stability and peace.
One result of this vast wealth and political stability was the large number of foreign firms with offices in the region; for example, according to the US Department of Commerce, over 750 American companies had established offices, acquired new business licenses, and/or entered into joint commercial ventures with local partners by 2007. The Texas-based oil-services firm Halliburton triggered widespread criticism when it announced in March 2007 that it was moving its international headquarters to Dubai. Accompanying these trends was an increase in the profusion of world-class banking institutions, together with a great concentration of Arab investment capital and liquidity. On 26 Sep 2005, trading began on the Dubai International Financial Exchange, the first international stock exchange in the Middle East.
Infrastructure projects were being financed on a scale not hitherto experienced. Many of these endeavors were associated with islands formed by land reclaimed from the sea. Nakheel (“The Palms”), a Dubai property-development company with government ties, was adding thousands of kilometers of waterfront on reclaimed land. Nakheel claimed to have some US$30 billion in megapro-jects under way in 2007, most notably a trilogy of palm-shaped man-made archipelagoes—Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah, and Palm Deira—and the World, which comprised some 300 small man-made islands arranged to look from the air like a map of the world. Saadiyat Island, just off the coast of Abu Dhabi, was at the center of a reclaiming megaproject that would expand a natural island half the size of Bermuda into a much larger complex of hotels, golf courses, and other tourist amenities, three marinas, and private residences, as well as a 270-ha (670-ac) cultural district. Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar had similar islands under construction or in the planning stages.
On the tourism front, the region abounded with five-star hotels associated with the world’s leading hoteliers. In addition to the dozens of luxury hotels planned for the new islands, hotels containing more than 7,000 rooms and suites opened in 2007, with plans to double the hotel “bed stock” in Dubai alone to at least 80,000 within a decade. Dubai already boasted the Burj Al Arab, a billion-dollar, 321-m (1,052-ft) sail-shaped “seven-star” hotel, and the US$500 million Hydropolis, under construction and planned to be the region’s first underwater hotel. Not to be outdone, Abu Dhabi welcomed guests to its US$3 billion Emirates Palace Hotel.
An additional consequence, of special importance to Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, was the proliferation of more diverse employment opportunities. These were generated by the associated local and foreign demands for travel guides, spas and swimming pools, ice-skating rinks, golf courses, and world-class entertainment, as well as expanded facilities for camel and horse racing.
One of the most remarkable projects was Dubai-land, a massive complex of entertainment and tourist amenities that included the Mall of Emirates (the largest indoor shopping mall outside North America) and a 2.25-sq-km (about 1-sq-mi), 25-story-high indoor ski resort. The arts were not ignored, especially in Abu Dhabi, which announced that Saadiyat Island would include a performing arts center designed by architect Zaha Hadid, a Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum, and Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Paris icon’s first international outpost.
Foreigners eager to benefit from the region’s business opportunities had no choice but to establish themselves permanently on the ground. Vast numbers of foreign laborers were employed in the infrastructure projects. As a result all the Gulf countries were hard-pressed to accommodate the demand for increased housing and office space. In re-sponse, residential and commercial construction was also booming; Saadiyat Island was expected to house 150,000 full-time residents, while the three “Palms” would include residences for more than 250,000 people.
John Duke Anthony is the president and CEO of the National Council on US-Arab Relations and secretary of the US Gulf Cooperation Council Corporate Cooperation Committee.
Despite the frenzied pace of development throughout much of the region, the implications of the boom for the interests and policies of individual Gulf countries and their foreign economic partners remained largely unnoticed by much of the outside world. What was long viewed as a subregion of vital significance to global economic growth mainly because of its energy sources had emerged as a center of abundant investment capital and almost unimaginably vast construction projects.
1 Jul Officials in Afghanistan say that NATO air strikes in a battle two days earlier in Helmand province killed 62 insurgents and 45 civilians.
► In Southern Pines NC, American golfer Cristie Kerr wins the US Women’s Open; it is her first victory in one of the major golf tournaments.
2 Jul US Pres. George W. Bush commutes the 30-month prison sentence meted out to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to the vice president, for perjury and obstruction of justice.
3 Jul Violence erupts between Pakistani security forces surrounding the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad and students of two madrassas affiliated with the establishment; at least 10 people are killed.
► The 32nd America’s Cup yacht competition is won for the second consecutive time by Switzerland’s Alinghi, which sails across the finish line near Valencia, Spain, just one second ahead of Team New Zealand’s vessel in race seven.
4 Jul The International Olympic Committee awards the 2014 Winter Games to Sochi, Russia.
► BBC reporter Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped on March 12 by a small Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip, is released to Hamas officials and then freed.
5 Jul The International Olympic Committee decides on the creation of a new Youth Olympics, for athletes aged 14-18; the first event is planned for summer 2010, with the venue to be decided in February 2008.
6 Jul UN health officials report that the number of people infected with HIV in India is 2.5 million, not 5.7 million as previously reported, and that India therefore ranks third in the world, not first, in number of infections, behind South Africa and Nigeria; the new tally was gleaned from a new and more accurate survey.
7 Jul A powerful truck bomb kills as many as 150 people in the Iraqi village of Amerli, a town of Turkmen Shiltes; many are crushed to death by collapsing houses.
► American Venus Williams defeats Marion Bartoli of France to take the All-England (Wimbledon) women’s tennis championship; the following day Roger Federer of Switzerland wins the men’s title for a fifth consecutive year when he defeats Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
► Live Earth, a series of 11 concerts to promote environmental awareness and combat global warming, is broadcast on television, satellite radio, and the Internet.
8 Jul Israel’s cabinet approves the early release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, most belonging to the Fatah party.
9 Jul Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces that the country will buy patrol ships to defend its claim to the Northwest Passage; many believe that continued global warming could make possible its being turned into a major shipping channel.
► The Chicago Board of Trade agrees to merge with its rival, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, for US$11.9 billion; the combined exchange will be one of the world’s largest.
10 Jul After seven days of fighting and a failed attempt to negotiate peace with the militants inside the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), government forces storm the compound; eight members of the security forces and some 73 militants, including Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the mosque’s leader, are killed.
► The Vatican issues a document that states that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church established by Jesus Christ and that other denominations “suffer from defects.”
► Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s food and drug regulatory agency, is executed.
11 The movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens at midnight in theaters throughout the US, taking in a record US$12 million from these screenings alone and setting a single-day record for a Wednesday release.
12 Jul The annual Orange Order parades in Northern Ireland take place without incident and without the need for heavy policing to prevent violence between the Protestant marchers and Roman Catholics who disliked the processions’ taking place near their neighborhoods.
13 Jul The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that Iran has agreed to allow the agency to inspect its heavy-water reactor in Arak before the end of the month.
14 Jul North Korea informs the US that it has shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and has admitted a team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
► Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin announces that his country will suspend its participation in the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty; the move is in response to US plans to deploy missile-defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.
15 Jul Two suicide bombings in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province leave at least 49 people dead.
► In Venezuela, Brazil defeats Argentina 3-0 to win its eighth Copa America, the South American championship in association football (soccer).
16 A magnitude-6.6 earthquake occurs in rural Ni-igata prefecture in Japan, killing at least 10 people and causing tremendous destruction, notably at the world’s biggest nuclear power plant.
17 Jul A Brazilian TAM Airlines Airbus A320 airplane attempting to land at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas Airport skids off a runway and into a building; at least 200 people are killed.
18 Jul The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 14,000 for the first time; also, the Standard & Poor’s 500 closes at a record high of 1,553.08.
► Laotian-born American psychologist Jerry Yang uses his aggressive playing style to capture the 38th Annual World Series of Poker and earn US$8,250,000 in prize money.
19 Jul Some 115 wildfires are reported in southern Greece in the midst of a heat wave that is baking southern Europe.
► Pres. Idriss Deby of Chad agrees to allow a European Union (EU) force to help contain violence that has spread into the eastern part of the country from the Darfur region of The Sudan.
