Dubai world expo win is a boost for businesses

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Dubai’s win as the first Middle Eastern city to host the World Expo scheduled for 2020 is slated to be a big boon for business, but analysts say billions of dollars spent on construction for the exhibition and speculation by investors could also lead to rising debt and an economic bubble.

The announcement Thursday that Dubai had been chosen was somewhat of a redemption for the emirate, which grabbed the world’s attention in 2009 with its high-profile financial crisis that forced multibillion-dollar bailouts.

The debt squeeze was the result of heavy borrowing to fuel the city’s frenetic building boom that left it bristling with futuristic skyscrapers, including the world’s tallest building— the Burj Khalifa— and numerous manmade islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the world.

As the global economy began to recover, so did Dubai’s internationally connected economy, which relies heavily on transportation logistics, tourism and trade.

Fireworks greeted the news that Dubai had bested competing bids from Izmir, Turkey; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Yekaterinburg, Russia, after three rounds of voting by delegates of the 168-nation Bureau International des Expositions in Paris.

Already one of the Mideast’s premier gateways for businesses seeking a toehold in the region, Dubai could also become a more attractive destination for foreign corporations looking for a place to invest, said Moad Touhami, head of distribution at Natixis Global Asset Management.

Dubai planners estimate a successful Expo 2020 bid will generate $23 billion between 2015 and 2021, or 24 percent of the city’s gross domestic product.

Google celebrated the win by tweaking its logo on the local version of its search page.

The new blue “Doodle,” as the Internet company refers to its dressed up logos, replaced one of the o’s in the Google name with the Dubai bid’s logo.