Today we want to show you how the 6 countries belonging to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) are taking on an increasingly important role in the world. We are talking about the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the other 5 smaller Emirates), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, all nations overlooking the Persian Gulf and which are very rich in oil and natural gas.
Many of us still see them as authoritarian regimes that are lucky enough to produce immense wealth simply by piercing the land (or the sea) and then exporting the fossil fuels that come out of it, with Emiri who own parks luxury machines and immense yachts, made of veiled women who go around the world to shop, or even deserts where camel competitions are made.
The Gulf countries are also all this, but today they are much more.
For about fifteen years now they have started a process of important change in their economies, have opened up to tourism, some capital have become large financial centers, have created sovereign funds that invest all over the world, attract companies and billionaires thanks to the subsidized tax regimes that they can offer, play an important role at a geopolitical level, their image is quickly changing.
Let’s try to tell you some of the changes that seem most important and useful to know with concrete examples.
- Diversification of the economy in the UAE: In 50 years the country has gone from a weight of 90% of the oil sector to a 30%, developing other sectors (from the real estate one that led tens of thousands of foreigners to move there, to the financial centers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, from the development of sustainable energies thanks to levels of record insolation to sea tourism and shopping, but lately also to the cultural one with theaters and museums such as the Louvre. or Guggenheim).
- Tourism development in Saudi Arabia: up to ten years ago the only foreign tourists who entered the country went to Mecca for pilgrimages; In 2024 12m of tourists arrived, including 4m of Europeans and the country aims to make them 40m by 2030. How? Through one of the largest tourist development plans in history: a brand new international airport, an area of the Virgin Red Sea that will host 50 hotels with 8000 rooms, a thousand and one night resorts in the desert.
- Creation of sovereign funds: Each of the 6 countries have at least 1, in total they have financial wealth to invest for 4370 billion dollars (40% of how much all the sovereign funds exist in the world), the largest (Adia of Abu Dhabi) has almost 1000 billion alone and 1800 people of 65 different nationality work there, including several Italians. Through these vehicles the Gulf countries invest in every corner of the world. To say one, they are today the largest foreign investor in Africa, having passed China.
- Assumption of an important geopolitical role: Allies of the USA has always been, they have increasingly diversified international dialogues, without being forced to take sides. Neutral and effective mediators, in recent years they propose themselves in this new role, in one of the hottest areas of the planet at the level of wars and tensions. The elaboration of Banca Selfi Sella & C on Dataroom / Corriere data shows you all this well.
- Important financial centers that attract capital: Dubai is in 16th place in the world ranking of the largest financial centers, Abu Dhabi is 35th and Doha (Qatar) 45 °. Important goals. In 2024 the United Arab Emirates were the country in the world which attracted more billionaires: 6700 of them moved there. The credit rating of most of these countries is high as can be observed from the Bloomberg / Iif graphic and this is a factor that helps the development of these squares. The capitalization of GCC bags is valid in total 4400 billion dollars (Italy today is about 750 billion), positioning them in seventh worldwide.
In short, it seems clear enough the ongoing path that has all the credentials in order to continue sent. For those wishing to know more, we recommend these readings: “The new Arab Empire” by Federico Rampini recently released, “A Reformer on the Throne” by Sergey Plekhanov who tells life and amazing works of the Oman al Qaboos and “The History of Saudi Arabia” by Wayne Bowen.
