MasterCard Worldwide today held a forum to discuss the findings of a groundbreaking research, the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index™. The study is designed to provide insight and knowledge on how leading cities influence the global economy and perform critical functions that connect markets and commerce globally.
Dubai ranks as the top city in the Middle East and is placed ninth out of 20 cities in the Asia/Pacific Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region. Dubai is ranked in 37th place within the world’s top 50 cities that are the hubs of the new worldwide economy.
Dubai’s ranking positions the city as a leader in the Middle East, offering a strong business climate that supports further development. Dubai scored high in the ‘Legal and Political Framework’ dimension (78.04), the ‘Economic Stability’ dimension (75.63) and the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ dimension (73.76). On a comparative basis, Dubai ranked 16th among the 50 top cities on the Business Center dimension and 29th and 30th on the Financial Flow and Legal and Political Framework dimensions.
These rankings reflect the enormous drive by the government of Dubai to be a world-class financial and business centre. The Knowledge Creation and Information Flow dimension represents an opportunity for development, Dubai scores low with an Index rate of 4.24 and is ranked 18th in APMEA and 61 overall.
The transformation of cities into global centers of commerce has been fueled in part by rapid urbanization. In terms of population size and economic activities, many cities today are far larger than a significant number of sovereign states and more important than ever before. The research report establishes that today, many of these metropolises are “global cities” that perform critical functions connecting markets and commerce globally. In essence, they are nodes of connectivity through which global commerce can take place.
