radar: Sharjah, UAE

Sharjah wants to shake things up. But first an introduction may be in order. The world knows the Emirates brand name largely because it is seen daily, emblazoned in red letters, on a fleet of globe-girdling luxury airliners coursing to and from Dubai. But there is much more to United Arab Emirates beyond Dubai’s formidable 24-hour air hub. Sharjah, the often quiet but third-largest of seven UAE members, is inviting new attention, starting with a blue-ribbon trade and tourism mission to the United States in September and October. Even seasoned globetrotters may have overlooked Sharjah until now. Situated near Dubai on the peninsula that juts north into the Strait of Hormuz, Sharjah is the only emirate with shoreline on both the Persian Gulf, to the west, and the eastward Indian Ocean. It styles itself the “cultural capital and industrial hub of the UAE,” with some justification; Sharjah’s economy is based on chemicals and plastics manufacturing, mining, and financial services as well as oil and gas. (In fact, Sharjah has exported oil only since 1974.) Economic growth is robust at more than 13% per annum through most of the last decade. The 800,000 citizens are remarkably productive and well-educated – the national literacy rate is 92 percent, above both UAE and global averages. Sharjah was the first UAE member to educate women, and the University of Sharjah attracts more than 10,000 students from across the UAE and the Arab world. The UAE is the United States’ largest trading partner, taking in $22.5 billion in US exports in 2012. “The United Arab Emirates has truly emerged as a global crossroads,” said US Ambassador to the UAE Michael Corbin, “fueled by the country’s transportation links, world-class tourist facilities, and the energy of its entrepreneurship.” Still, however, there’s a sense that Sharjah’s own story has gone largely untold overseas, and that many American business interests have yet to assess this well-situated base for operations in the Middle East and North Africa. The current trade mission to Washington, D.C. and New York marks a new, explicit attempt to carve a unique identity for Sharjah within the UAE, and a direct appeal to US interests to consider the merits of Sharjah in particular. It’s a direct awareness tactic similar to those used by entrepreneurially-minded American states like Alabama and South Carolina to woo European auto factories. The mission is led by Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, of Sharjah’s royal family; Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority; and Ameera BinKaram, President of the Executive Committee of the Sharjah Business Women Council. “It may surprise Americans that women are playing a big role in Sharjah’s economic resurgence,” said BinKaram. “We invite our friends in America to come to Sharjah, set aside any preconceptions, and discover for themselves all that Sharjah has to offer.” How does Sharjah distinguish itself from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the best-known UAE states? Mission leaders emphasize Sharjah’s ready, qualified workforce and quantitative economic advantages for investors, including tax-friendly economic free zones and lower capital requirements and customs duties. Then there’s a cultural dimension largely undiscovered by the West. A visitor expecting another futuristic needle-spiked Middle Eastern skyline will find plenty of modernity in Sharjah City, but the real estate’s been settled for 5,000 years and antiquities abound. Heritage areas are well-preserved and open for inspection. In the context of history, Sharjah’s 16th century Portuguese forts are a comparatively recent landscape feature. Industrious, ambitious, welcoming, simultaneously modern and ancient: this is the Sharjah most Westerners have yet to discover. Perhaps it is high time. If this fall’s trade delegation to US media centers inspires even a few Americans to Google Sharjah, scan the skyline, admire the beaches, and weigh the benefits of investing, selling or working there, it will have begun to fulfill its mission – and Sharjah’s potential. )

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