Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? The small states of the Gulf are competing to make a name for themselves internationally. Recent news from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates shows how important burnishing their image still is for all nations in the region—but also how many of their coming out plans remain very much works-in-progress.
Qatar, most notably, faces the potentially damaging suggestion that bribery tainted its successful bid for the 2022 World Cup. The economics of hosting the Cup are debatable—it needs to increase hotel rooms in the country by 10-fold, plus those nine new air-conditioned stadiums—and the PR blow from losing the event or the release of more evidence that its bid wasn’t strictly halal would be significant.
Another test—perhaps slightly less high-profile than the World Cup—will come in late June when MSCI, the influential index provider, decides whether Qatar and the UAE have reformed their bourses enough to justify upgrading them from frontier to emerging market status.
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