TPT November 2010

Dubai is the acknowledged jewel of the United Arab Emirates. But it is a jewel in a remarkably functional setting. Occupying an area of only 83,600 square kilometres, and with a labour force of just 3.17 million, the UAE conducts a $174 billion annual export trade with the likes of Japan, South Korea, India, Iran, and Thailand. The similarly outsize partners in its $141 billion import trade are even more extensive: China, India, the US, Germany, Japan, Turkey, Italy. Two very important sets of statistics – revenues and expenditures – are in virtual parity at $54bn. And the unemployment rate in the UAE is an enviably low 2.4% (Estimates, the most recent available, are for 2009 or 2008.)