Gulf Area
When we speak about Gulf area, from an economic and a commercial point of view, generally we refer to the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, مجلس التعاون الخليجي) is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq. Its member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Of course we speak about a region with a common culture and many common economic and political aspects, but every state has its peculiar characteristic and this is important to analyze local business opportunities.
It is very difficult to decide the area of our business development in our age when the changing is rapid and continuous. Just a couple of years ago we have spoken with unlimited enthusiasm about the emerging countries or the “already emerged and now growing” markets, including the BRICS, the Next Eleven and the GCC.
In a couple of years, many political and economic issues are changed, and business strategies have to be adapted to these new scenarios. Also if oil price is now dramatically down and the religious and political fight between Shiites and Sunnis is at the center of international attention, we have to understand these markets to be ready in advance to catch the opportunity or to stop to invest.
GCC’s economy is mainly of course depending upon oil-extraction but we have to consider the high investment capacity they have and the effort provided in the last years in the non oil sector.
In this new global economic scenario, over the last few years, the activity of Italian companies in this region is increasing and expecting to increase again, whatever their field of expertise is. The knowledge of these markets, including past experiences made by other companies may be critical for a business success also in this “typhoon” scenario.
Not only for company but also for young and senior professionals, the know how on new markets will be one of the new “killer application” to open new labor opportunities.
For this reason, it’s important to pursue a study on GCCs that allows to understand both the role and the potential of these countries from an economic, institutional and geopolitical perspective.