A distinction must be drawn between Abu Dhabi and
its much vaunted sister Emirate, Dubai.
Dubai, as the discerning reader will be well aware, is
not an oil-rich Emirate.
With the black gold only accounting for 5% of its
GDP, it made a name for itself as a tourist destination
and new-age city of gold. It relied on flocking
tourists, inflated real estate prices, a shopping mallbased consumer culture and the abundance of credit
that flowed through the veins of the international
banking system prior the crash of 2008.
Indeed, it has emerged, in wake of the Dubai World
debt restructuring fiasco of late 2009, that all was not
as it seemed, and that even a United Arab Emirate
is not invincible from the vagaries of international
commerce.
Thankfully for Dubai, it is Abu Dhabi’s closest
neighbour. The intricate relationship between the
two cities at opposite ends of the Sheikh Zayed
motorway precludes one from letting the other fall.
Abu Dhabi’s $10 billion bailout of Dubai World, and
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s reciprocal
gesture in naming the tallest tower in the world, the
Burj Khalifa, after Sheikh Khalifa, Ruler of Abu Dhabi,
demonstrates the strength of this key relationship.
18
Abu Dhabi Vision 2030
The Dubai Distinction
Abu Dhabi’s economic development is interlinked
with those of its Federal partners, and the
performance of the Emirate as a business
destination will influence the overall economic
performance of the UAE, and vice versa.
Enshrined in Vision 2030 is the interdependence
of the Federal partners. Certainly, some Abu Dhabi
money must have an interest in the long term
viability of Dubai, yet it must be noted that in terms
of land mass and oil wealth, Abu Dhabi is by far, the
dominant Emirate of the UAE, occupying 87% of the
geographic confines of the country, as well as owning
95% of oil reserves and 92% of gas.
Considering that according to Vision 2030, Abu
Dhabi generated an estimated $90 billion in oil
revenues in 2007 alone, not even taking into account
the untold reserves administered by its Sovereign
Wealth Funds, the $10 billion bail out of Dubai was
something that the Abu Dhabi coffers could absorb.
The Ruler of Dubai writes about his
relationship with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai recently
took the innovative step of directly answering questions
online from Dubai citizens. He was asked the following
question regarding the President of the UAE and Ruler of
Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.