Due to its strategic location on the Arabian Gulf, maritime trade has been a feature of the region for thousands of years and Dubai’s port infrastructure is constantly being upgraded and expanded to maintain the Emirate’s preeminence as a regional trading hub. Dubai’s ports export oil, raw materials and finished goods worldwide, import goods and raw materials for local industry and consumers, as well as channeling the country’s re-export and redistribution trade to other economies around the Gulf, East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. 

Dubai’s policy of investing heavily in transport, telecommunications, energy and industrial infrastructure has enabled it to have one of the best infrastructure facilities in the world. It has also contributed significantly both to its ongoing prosperity and attractiveness to international businesses involved in trade and logistics.

Dubai has also avoided heavy industry where it has no comparative advantage except cheap energy, except for selected areas like Aluminium production which require a comparatively small workforce. Instead state policy has favored higher value – added industries that take account of the comparatively small population. Initially these were mainly in textiles and garments, but the emphasis is now on the ICT sector as the driving force of value – added manufacturing in Dubai.