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.

Oil and gas production continues to dominate the Algerian economy, accounting for almost all of exports, close to half of government revenue and over a third of GDP. In recent years non-hydrocarbons GDP has outstripped wider economic growth, though this is largely driven by public spending rather than private sector activity.