GENEVA, 26 April 2006 — The United Arab Emirates was dumbfounded by the political storm in the US over a move by one of its companies to manage six American ports and is now watching for the reaction to another planned takeover, the Gulf country’s economy minister said yesterday.
“I think we were dismayed by the reaction, of being denied in the Dubai Ports World case,” said Lubna Al-Qasimi.
“While we are all here to encourage more open markets in trade, this should not be a practice,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the 149-nation World Trade Organization.
The government-owned company DP World had won the rights to operate six main US ports through a multi-billion-dollar deal in which it acquired British P and O.
But it announced in March its plans to sell the US part of its P and O acquisition following massive US Congress opposition which voiced security concerns over a deal involving an Arab state. Al-Qasimi said that port security controls had long been a paramount concern for the UAE, which is has a reputation as a trading hub.
US President George W. Bush had backed the ports deal, and the company’s climbdown spared him a clash with lawmakers who have increasingly been challenging his free trade agenda and raised the specter of a Republican rebellion ahead of mid-term elections in November.