Over the past four decades, Dubai has become one of the most important economic centres in the Middle East and a key destination for investors, tourists and corporations from around the world. The emirate boasts a diversified economy, an open business environment, and a multinational population and workforce, all of which have contributed to its reputation as a leading investment destination.

While a significant nomadic population still pushes its herds across the steppe, young adults in Ulaanbaatar use fibre-optic networks to access the internet. Heir to the legacy of Chinggis Khan, Mongolia is fast emerging as a land rich with economic potential – a country that is seeking growth while also working to preserve its unique national culture. 

At the base of the Arabian Peninsula, occupying a landmass slightly larger than Italy, Oman is the largest country in the GCC after Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the non-OPEC oil exporter’s economy has been undergoing a steady transformation, reorienting from oil toward a more diverse set of service and industry-based economic activities. So far, progress has been promising. In 2011 oil and gas accounted for 38.8% GDP.

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society of 29m split between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo. With a per-capita GDP that has hovered around $10,000 for the past decade, the country is struggling to escape a “middle-income trap” 

With one of the world’s most commanding positions in the global energy industry and a growing role in regional diplomacy, Qatar has seen many returns on the political and economic investments it has made in the past two decades.