February 16, 2021

Saudi Arabia eyes Dubai's crown with HQ ultimatum

Featuring: Rachel Ziemba

Source: Reuters

Journalists: Davide Barbuscia, Marwa Rashad, Hadeel Al Sayegh

Saudi Arabia has raised the stakes in a competition with freewheeling Dubai for foreign talent and cash. From 2024, the Saudi government will stop giving state contracts to companies and commercial institutions that base their Middle East hubs in any other country in the region, the Saudi finance minister told Reuters.

The measure is the latest attempt by the kingdom, a religiously conservative nation that is the birthplace of Islam, to remould itself as a financial and tourism hub under the leadership of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But challenging the dominance of Dubai, in neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the region’s commercial and financial capital will not be easy.

Read the full story and more from Reuters.

Author

  • Rachel Ziemba

    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Energy, Economics, & Security Program

    Rachel Ziemba is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Her research focuses on the interlinkages between economics, finance and security i...