Page 100 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

84 Dubai & Co.

developing the best Arab minds and business leaders. One stated
objective of Qatar’s Education City, for example, is to “act as a
‘brain magnet’ to retain talent by combating brain drain from Qatar
38
and the Arab world.” Part of this rationale is long-term and strate-
gic, as human capital is essential to these economies’ competitive-
ness. Another part is more immediate: the educational and training
facilities developed in smaller Gulf states need to attract students
beyond their own nationals in order to reach the size to which they
aspire.
Political collaboration between the GCC nations and the
broader MENA region has also increased with the growing eco-
nomic and political clout of the Gulf. Although the role of secretary-
general of the Arab League (the association of Arab states) has
almost always been held by an Egyptian, the Gulf states are the
largest financial contributors to the League. According to the most
recent public figures available, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait each con-
39
tributed over 10 percent of the League’s budget. Saudi Arabia is
also the home of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),
a group of over 50 Muslim countries worldwide. The Saudi city of
Jeddah is home to the OIC’s Permanent Secretariat, as well as the
Islamic Fiqh (jurisprudence) Academy and the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB). The IDB, which is the world’s largest
Sharia-compliant financial institution, was created with a mandate
similar to those of the World Bank and IMF to foster economic
development and financial stability. The GCC is also, naturally, the
center of gravity for OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries)—the global oil exporters’ coalition that
includes several Arab states. 40 Saudi Arabia, with its massive
reserves, is always the central power at OPEC meetings; Kuwait
and the UAE usually align with their GCC neighbor. Together, this
bloc can dominate the organization.
Further, the GCC provides substantial humanitarian aid to the
MENA world. After the 2006 war in Lebanon, the Saudi govern-
ment committed $1.1 billion in grants and aid, and the Islamic
41
Development Bank pitched in $250 million. Humanitarian assis-
tance to the Palestinians is also large: the UAE, for example, gave
over $800 million between 2000 and 2005, including a project to
build housing over the ruins of evacuated Israeli settlements. 42
Private-sector charity, sometimes raised through television or other