No US backlash to ports deal if Singapore had won instead

Dubai: Former US Secretary of Defence William Cohen told Gulf News that American reaction to the purchase of P&O would have been different if Singapore's PSA had won the deal.

Cohen, who was in Dubai for the opening of law firm DLA Piper, said that in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans were leery of any company coming from the Arabian Gulf.

"Singapore has close relations with the United States," said Cohen, who served as defence secretary under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. "I think it would have been treated differently."

PSA, like DP World, is owned by a government and was the only other bidder on the P&O deal.

Echoing the opinion of DP World's leadership, Cohen said that few people in the US knew anything about Dubai, except that it was in the Middle East.

"Most have never heard of the UAE or Dubai," he said.

In the past, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem has targeted the company's failure to market itself well in the US as one of the main causes of the furore over the company's purchase of P&O, which included six key ports along the US's eastern seaboard.

It was not until some US Senators up for reelection pushed by a nervous public began a campaign to block the purchase that Dubai found itself in the spotlight, but for the wrong reasons.

Even when some politicians and media began weighing in on the side of DP World, it was too late to turn public opinion around, Cohen said.

"[The furore] overwhelmed any responsible discourse," he added. "It is a lesson learned."

Cohen also targeted members of Congress, who he says need to go on official visits to foreign countries more frequently, in order to better understand the economic interplay between nations.

Even though there have been a few scandals where members have been accused of abusing the system in order to land free vacations, Cohen said junketeering is necessary to keep Americans informed about what is going on in the rest of the world.

"When I was in Congress, I used to travel a great deal. A junket is the best thing a member of Congress can do," said Cohen, who served three terms in the House of Representatives and another three in the Senate.