The football World Cup in Qatar was not the only show drawing attention to the oil-rich Gulf in recent weeks. In Abu Dhabi, an annual finance conference was so packed that attendees were left with standing room only as the region is increasingly viewed as one of the remaining sources of abundant capital.
When sessions ended, bankers and investors squeezed through corridors pitching deals on the hoof. “It was so busy, it felt like the whole island sank a little,” one Abu Dhabi official quipped to a banker present.
There were similar scenes in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, where the kingdom’s so-called “Davos in the Desert” investor conference drew record numbers with more than 1,000 “global executives” attending, including about 400 from the US and scores from Europe.