A report in the Financial Times paid special attention to Emaar's projects, and included an interview with Mohammed Ali Al Abbar, director-general of the emirate's Department of Economic Development and president of the Emaar Group. It revolved on projects managed by the group and focused on the Dubai Tower project that, once completed, will become the tallest building in the world, dwarfing the famous Sears Tower in Chicago.

The Dubai Tower project includes residential units, a hotel, offices, entertainment facilities, green areas, fountains, waterfalls, replica of an ancient city, and one of the largest shopping centres in the world.

The report also spoke about the Dubai Marina project which it described as 'the Nice of the Middle East'.

The cost of the project is upwards of $10 billion and is expected to house 25,000 people in its Marina Towers.

More projects are in the pipeline in Dubai, which made Jones, Lang and LaSalle, the world's leading real estate and investment management services firm, call Dubai 'one of the star cities' along with Dublin and Las Vegas. The firm also said interest in acquiring real estate in Dubai amongst Europeans has increased because of first-rate services like hospitals.

The newspaper also praised General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Defence Minister of UAE, for propelling the growing city towards international recognition, and spoke of his vision and creativity.

One of his brainchilds, the Dubai International Financial Centre, will place Dubai on the world's financial markets map alongside Singapore, Frankfurt and Hong Kong, according to the report.