Contrary to most places, Dubai is experiencing more of an acceleration of ongoing trends rather than total disruption at the macro-economic level. Led by DP World, those active within the Emirate's trade ecosystem continue to develop innovative, technology-driven solutions. The novel coronavirus outbreak brought more urgent necessity and faster adoption of such initiatives. This 27-page report features 27 conversations with leading voices throughout the network, such as DP World, Dubai South, DAFZA, Maersk, and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, to build a clear picture of the state of the sector at this crucial time.

In The Business Year's first special report exploring inter-regional ties, we identify and expand on areas for economic collaboration that will drive the trajectories of Africa and Dubai, highlighting the forward momentum that will allow stakeholders—be they public sector entities, large multinational companies, or SMEs—to capitalize on the untapped potential. This special report comes in a series of online publications, focusing on a certain aspect or industry in one of our 35 global markets. Our reports are consumed by investors, analysts, and decision makers around the world.

This 92-page special report, featuring interviews, news, and analysis, navigates the major challenges, prospects, and trends that will guide the sector over the coming years. It features insights from the leading decision makers in the sector and seeks to be a reference for those wanting impactful information on investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

For countries as diverse as China and Mauritius, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been a powerful tool to attract foreign investment, promote export-oriented growth, and generate employment; for many others, the results have been less than encouraging. While the benefits and limitations of zones will no doubt continue to be debated, what is clear is that policymakers are increasingly attracted to them as an instrument of trade, investment, industrial, and spatial policy. Since the mid 1980s, the number of newly-established zones has grown rapidly in almost all regions, with dramatic growth in developing countries. In parallel with this growth and in the evolving context of global trade and investment, zones are also undergoing significant change in both their form and function, with traditional export processing zones (EPZs) increasingly giving way to larger and more flexible SEZ models. This new context will bring significant opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of SEZs, but will also raise new challenges to their successful design and implementation. This volume aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role and practice of SEZs in developing countries, in order to better equip policymakers in making effective decisions in planning and implementing SEZ programs. It covers some of the emerging issues and challenges in SEZs including upgrading, regional integration, WTO compliance, innovation, the environment, and gender issues with practical case examples from SEZ programs in developing countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about drastict changes to the world economy. Malaysia, however, is well positioned to seize new opportunities, including the reorientation of global supply chains, to bolster trade ties with regions around the world, with the Middle East standing out as a particular area of potential for inward and outward investment. This 29-page report, produced in partnership with MIDA, includes interviews, news, and analysis.

Certain cities—most famously New York, London, and Tokyo—have been identified as “global cities,” whose function in the world economy transcends national borders. Without the same fanfare, formerly peripheral and secondary cities have been growing in importance, emerging as global cities in their own right. The striking similarity of the skylines of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore is no coincidence: despite following different historical paths, all three have achieved newfound prominence through parallel trends. In this groundbreaking book, Alejandro Portes and Ariel C. Armony demonstrate how the rapid and unexpected rise of these three cities recasts global urban studies. They identify the constellation of factors that allow certain urban places to become “emerging global cities”—centers of commerce, finance, art, and culture for entire regions. The book traces the transformations of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore, identifying key features common to these emerging global cities. It contrasts them with “global hopefuls,” cities that, at one point or another, aspired to become global, and analyzes how Hong Kong is threatened with the loss of this status. Portes and Armony highlight the importance of climate change to the prospects of emerging global cities, showing how the same economic system that propelled their rise now imperils their future. Emerging Global Cities provides a powerful new framework for understanding the role of peripheral cities in the world economy and how they compete for and sometimes achieve global standing.