Special Features
America And The UAE: An Enduring Relationship
The United States of America celebrates its Independence Day on 4th July and the occasion is an apt moment to evaluate the strategic American relationship with the UAE.It is no coincidence that President Barack Obama specifically mentioned the UAE as his model of a society that celebrates tolerance, technology, entrepreneurship and openness to the world in his historic speech at Cairo University last summer, an Arab state that shares the administration’s vision of a prosperous, vibrant, peaceful and nuclear free Middle East.
The UAE remains one of America’s closest diplomatic allies and a strategic and peace making. The relationship has survived the protectionist backlash in the US congress and media against DP World’s acquisition of five US ports and the change of leadership in the White House.
The UAE is now the largest export market for American companies in the Middle East, even though the GDP and consumer markets of Egypt and Saudi are larger. An estimated 40, 0000 Americans live and work in the UAE and more than 750 firms, including global blue chips such as Microsoft, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Halliburton have their regional head offices in the UAE.
American universities and cultural institutions are prominent in the UAE. New York University has just welcomed its inaugural class of undergraduates from all over the world in its Abu Dhabi campus. The Dubai School of Government has partnered with Harvard’s globally pre-eminent Kennedy School of Public Policy. The American College of Dubai has been an ambassador of US higher education in the UAE for almost two decades.
America’s “soft power” is evident in the cosmopolitan milieu of the UAE, from Hollywood movies to rock concerts, from McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets to Hilton hotels to Bloomberg terminals and CNBC TV broadcasts in the trading rooms. Exxon Mobil, Schlumberger and Occidental Petroleum have helped develop and manage the oil and gas resources of the UAE.
