KEY POINTS:
When Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem came to Auckland the weekend before last, he didn't just visit the airport - he also inspected Ports of Auckland.
As chairman of Dubai's state-owned ports group, Dubai Ports World, Bin Sulayem is in charge of the company's 42 terminals spanning 22 countries. Dubai Ports is one of a bewildering number of enterprises ultimately owned by the Government of Dubai.
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, which wants to bid for Auckland International Airport, is another Government-owned enterprise.
The Sultan spent about an hour at the port, talking mainly about port operations. "There was nothing to do with ownership or those sorts of things," said a source.
The port is fully owned by Auckland Regional Holdings, which privatised the company and took it off the sharemarket in 2005.
While in New Zealand, Bin Sulayem inspected "marine, tourism and thoroughbred racing industries", said Trade and Enterprise.
The next Monday, the Sultan toured the container terminal in Brisbane, which Dubai Ports World owns.
Last year Dubai Ports World bought six major US ports when it acquired Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co for US$6.8 billion, becoming the world's third-largest container port operator.
But it later agreed to sell its US port operations to an American International Group unit to allay concerns about US national security.
