KEY POINTS:
The Middle East conjures up dark pictures in Westerners' minds, the agonies of Palestine and Iraq. That's like judging all of Africa by Darfur, or all of Asia by North Korea.
There's more to the region and the Muslim world than that. I spend much time in the
region because of my memberships of some commercial boards, and for some reason I am invited to universities and seminars.
I also have a debt of honour to the Qatari Government for its support when I was Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and we launched the Doha Development Trade round.
The nations of the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) - Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - are committed to creating a common economic unit. Imperfect progress is being made.
Most currencies are linked to the US dollar. Now there's talk of a common currency based on a basket of currencies, which will have profound implications for the status and security of the US dollar. At one meeting, we talked of the implications of the UAE creating a new currency.
In substance, it would come in behind the US dollar, Euro and Japanese yen. Not a small idea. The UAE is a federal state of small emirates, the most well-known of which is Dubai, which now enjoys more tourists than Egypt. Its airport gets 30 million visitors, its airline, alongside Qatar's, is the fastest-growing in the world.
Only 40 per cent of Dubai's income is now resource-based. The United Arab Emirates' growth is staggering. Some 60 per cent of the world's cranes are at work there.
New cities - an internet city, a cinema industry ($500 million earmarked), the first green, carbon-neutral city - are planned.
The world's largest building will soon be finished, an education city is expanding. Twice as many women are at local universities than men. Women ministers serve in most emirates. Women also account for 45 per cent of vehicle purchases and outspend men in consumer electronics.
Together, the Gulf Co-operation Council would be the seventh-largest economy in the developing world - twice the size of Turkey, South Africa, or Argentina. Its global savings are higher than China's, and its current account surplus on a par with China.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is second only to the Bank of Japan in terms of assets. UAE investments range around the world to Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Sainsbury, Ferrari and Aston Martin.
The International Monetary Fund suggests infrastructure investment will reach $800 billion by 2010. On the respected index of economic freedom, the GCC is well ahead of Russia, China, and India. Half the GCC states score ahead of Italy.
The small states are laboratories of progress and hope, where success is causing a global ripple. There is a commitment to commercial law, which is why most of the world's banks and multinationals are there.
All are members of the World Trade Organisation and subject to its rules and obligations. New Zealand is negotiating a free trade deal with the UAE - Australia has already signed up.
When a Dubai company looked at buying into the Auckland International Airport, our Ministers of Trade and Foreign Affairs elbowed each other to get on television to oppose the deal. Now the Canadians are looking at investing, the Government says it won't be rushed into a decision. Pardon? So, it's okay for Arab money to sponsor our America's Cup challenge, but Arab investment is treated differently. Before the Government spin machine attacks me, I have no dog in this fight.
The members speak openly of how they can evolve into constitutional monarchies, elections are being cautiously held, in some places women have outnumbered men in voter turnout.
Some of these countries have migrant workers who can outnumber the locals by five to one. Labour rights are, alas, very weak, but growing. Remittances from these workers to the Philippines, Pakistan, and India are worth more than all the development aid from Western capitals.
A new "Silk Road" is being created. Within four hours' flight lie four billion consumers.
They were trading with India and China several thousand years before the first human foot left a mark on a New Zealand beach.
Sure, they have 40 per cent of the world's known oil reserves, 23 per cent of the natural gas reserves, and 22 per cent of the present oil supply. But they are investing beyond energy, everywhere and at home, big-time.
Lucky, plucky Qatar is always in the news for its global events calendar and successfully hosted the second-largest sporting event, the Asian Games. Now they are looking at an Olympic bid. Qatar's global television reach through al-Jazeera is now in English, and the BBC will soon launch a service in Arabic.
Al-Jazeera is independent and annoys Western powers, but infuriates its neighbours even more. On my last visit, staying in a 400-room hotel, which cost $1.5 billion to construct, I noticed that the room service book was also in Russian. Now it gets interesting.
* Mike Moore is a former Prime Minister of New Zealand and former Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.
