Does Dubai manufacture anything or is it just a consumer of Western/Asian goods and servies?

Submitted by Ankara (Russia), Dec 20, 2017 at 08:44

Dear Dr. Pipes,

Does Dubai produce the steel, cables, electrical wiring, elevators, HVAC systems and everything else that is part of those skyscrapers or do they import them from other countries? Who built those fastest police cars?
Let's see:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa
"Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian Smith, then of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), whose firm designed the Willis Tower and One World Trade Center. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Souffian AL-Jabiry of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer.[14][15] The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.[16] The tower's construction was done by the construction division of Al Ghurair Investment group.
The air conditioning has been provided by Voltas. The contract for building the state-of-the-art machines [for cleaning the windows]was won by Australian company CoxGomyl, a manufacturer of Building Maintenance Units."

2) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4347180/Dubai-police-Bugatti-Veyron-fastest-cop-car-world.html
"Dubai police's Bugatti Veyron supercar which can reach 253mph is officially declared the fastest cop car in the world "

Comparing Dubai to South Korea is faulty since South Korea actually produces world class products. Dubai and UAE do not.

Till the Muslim countries manufacture products that can compete with Western and Asian products in quality and price, they will just be consumers of Western and Asian goods and services.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".