Introduction
The United Arab Emirates is a federal country located in the southwest of Asia. It consists of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai and Fujairah among others. Its capital is Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates is immediately bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia and shares boarders with countries like Iraq, Iran, and Qatar among others.
This paper seeks to discuss the United Arab Emirates. The paper will look into the political and economic stability of the country in comparison to that of the Middle East to investigate whether or not, the country is a regional power.
Economy of the United Arab Emirates
The country is reported to have a liberalized economy with positive attributes such as “high per capita income and a sizable annual trade surplus” (Central 1). The country, like others in the Middle East has over time been highly dependent on its oil and hydro carbons to facilitate its economy.
This specialized economic establishment has, however, been changing following the diversification of the country’s economy. The oil industry has however been significant to the country’s economy since oil was discovered in the country. Oil production is for example realized to have transformed the country from its previous state to the current stability with desirable living standards.
The government of the United Arab Emirates has been on the fore front for steering economic developments in the country with massive investments to facilitate growth. Investments such as in expanding the economy for the creation of more job opportunities, infrastructural developments and promotion of investment activities has been a key interest of the country’s government. The move to attract investors into the country has been significant with the government granting provisions for full ownership of business enterprises to foreign investors in some parts of the country (Central 1).
Cases of reduced level of taxation over investment have also been reported in the country for the purpose of attracting investors. The economic stability of the country was for instance proved during the global crisis that was realized in the year 2009 as the country was in its capacity to provide internal financial support to its affected emirates.
Abu Dhabi was for instance aided Dubai through loans. The country has succeeded in its economic diversification that has greatly reduced its level of dependence on oil and gas to about a quarter of the country’s economy. This, with an assumption that the country’s productivity in oil and gas has not reduced, is an indicator that the country has been realizing economic growth in other sectors apart from oil and gas (Central 1).
The United Arab Emirates is one of the regionally identified economic centers in Asia. The developments of economy in a variety of sectors apart from the oil and gas industry has played a role in not just developing the country’s economy but also establishing it among other economies in the region. The country’s economic diversification was characterized by industrialization and improved transportation system that included developed air transport (Encyclopedia 1).
According to the BBC, the United Arab Emirates has since its inception developed to become “one of the middle east’s most important economic centers” (BBC 1). Dubai is for instance reported to have been outstanding in the Middle East in the year 2000 as an economic centre.
Attracting both expertise and investors into the country and the region, Dubai established the United Arab Emirates as an economic power in the region (BBC 1). Dubai is characteristically identified to be an outstanding element in the Middle East.
The levels of developments that have been realized in the city are actually comparable and surprisingly better those developments that have at the same time been achieved in some of the Middle East countries.
One of the factors that make Dubai a regional power is the capacity that it has shown with respect to development activities. Though it had limited resources in terms of oil reserves, Dubai established and overtook states in the Middle East in economic developments. It has therefore exhibited its capacity to become an economic power in the region.
The collective pride over Dubai ultimately lies with its parent federation which in consideration with its other emirs exerts itself as a center of economic power in the region (Denicola 62). The political system in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, though not actually a democratic one, has been the key to the country’s developments that puts it to lead the region’s economic pride. It is this leadership that has made the country to its current success through attracting investments and human labor that has led to the development (Denicola 105).
Conclusion
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of oil rich regions. Though identified as an isolated region before it discovered its oil reserves, the country has used its resources to diversify and develop its economy to become an outstanding economic center in the region. Its developing trend might establish it as the region’s top economic centre in future.
Works Cited
BBC. United Arab Emirates country profile. BBC, 2010. Web.
Central. Middle East: united Arabs emirates. Fact Book, 2011. Web.
Denicola, Christopher. Dubai’s political and economic development: An oasis in the desert. Library Williams, 2005. Web.
Encyclopedia. United Arabs Emirates/ Economy. UAE, n.d. Web.