The “majlisologists” – observers of the coming and goings in the senior echelons of Dubai Inc – were all a-twitter late last week following an innocuous-looking announcement posted on the official UAE website.
“Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has issued in his capacity as Ruler of Dubai a law attaching the Executive Office in Dubai to the Court of the Ruler,” it said inelegantly.
“The move is part of continuous efforts aimed at achieving comprehensive development in the Emirate of Dubai through the vision of Sheikh Mohammed to improve government performance,” WAM added.
That might seem like a dull bit of reshuffling of the emirate’s administrative machinery, but Emirati friends were bubbling over with speculation. The Executive Office, they pointed out, was largely the creation of Mohammed Abdullah al Gargawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the Federal Government, chairman of Dubai Holding, and generally regarded as a leading light in the creation of modern Dubai. He ran the Executive Office from the giddy heights of Emirates Towers with a staff of hand-picked aides.
My Emirati pals speculated that Sheikh Mohammed was priming a new team to oversee the next phase in the emirate’s development after the financial crisis. WAM seemed to support this interpretation of the new set up: “It will prepare long term strategic development plans and envisage scenarios of potential challenges in view of the present and future goals and regional changes and recommend strategies for addressing them.”
If this interpretation is correct, it signals a further step up in the apparently irresistible rise of Mohammed al Shaibani, the executive chairman of Investment Corporation of Dubai and director general of the Ruler’s Court.
Horses for courses. Mr al Shaibani is obviously regarded as the best man to advise Sheikh Mohammed on how to get Dubai’s growth strategy back on track.
Announcement here.
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