A US president once said: “The business of America is business.”
But the business of the UAE is trade, as figures from DP World and Sharjah's Gulftainer confirm. The country's position as a global commercial hub is once again underlined, and its advantages compared to other regional centres are proven.
With DPW, the country has a global leader. The half-year figures showed how closely the company is intertwined with world trading patterns: the big jump in first half profits came about because of growing business in China, South Korea and India, and also reflected a gentle but appreciable upturn in European business.
Gulftainer’s results showed the great potential there also is in Africa.
But it must be stressed to what extent the Middle East is the real engine for DPW growth. The region accounts for nearly 80 per cent of DPW’s earnings, and most of that goes through Jebel Ali in Dubai. The port really is the dynamo for the country’s economic growth, and a testimony to the success of policymakers’ strategy over decades.
Trade in the region was “robust” in the first six months, said Mohammed Sharaf, DPW’s chief executive, and it still has the historically stronger second half to come.
But he also sounded something of a warning when he spoke of the “geopolitical” situation and the potential damage that could be done to the business from a broader regional conflagration. He is surely right to alert shareholders to the possibility.
But DPW has survived, even thrived, through earlier periods of regional tension. Goods and products have to be moved in bad times as well as good.
fkane@thenational.ae
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