The first time I picked up Building magazine in Dubai, I was extremely impressed … until I came across this comment (Building Gulf supplement, October, page 32): “Unless you employ cheaper labourers from India, Asia and the Lebanon, you won’t be competitive in the marketplace.”

The writer has very, very wrong information. There are virtually NO “cheap labourers” from the Lebanon. Most of the Lebanese people in Dubai are in the higher management sector, being at the very least trilingual and hence essential for communication between the Arabs and the European and US companies. The latter may believe they run the show but can barely speak their own language. Business transactions would be impossible without the linguistic/cultural aid of the Lebanese management community.

I work at a Lebanese company whose projects include the Burj Dubai, the Dubai Metro, The Pearl (Qatar) among others. What you have stated is demeaning to Asians, Indians and extremely demeaning to us Lebanese! We will not stand for any racist comments or misinformation, especially by a so-called professional magazine.

Postscript

George Chlouks, KBE Gulf and KSA

Topics