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In a keynote speech on the second day of the Arab Rafiq Al Hariri dismissed the idea that Arabs should try to copy European-style democracy. He also said those who believe democracy and Islam do not go together are wrong and then he pointed to the GCC.

A new commercial cluster in Dubai Creek known as Business Bay should attract tens of billions of dollars, the project's backers said yesterday.

Opec should aim for an oil price of $30 to $38 a barrel, the UAE's energy minister said yesterday.

In a strongly worded keynote speech opening the Arab Strategy Forum, General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, said: I say to my fellow Arabs in charge: If you do not change, you will be changed.

Israel continues to undermine Palestinian attempts at setting up democratic institutions, said Dr Hanan Ashrawi, a parliamentarian and former cabinet minister.

Former US President Bill Clinton said Washington should play a more active role in pushing for economic and political reforms in the Middle East to balance what he saw as a near-total focus on combating terrorism.

The three-day Arab Strategy Forum should be a catalyst for free debate, said General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, who will deliver the opening address.

Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah said Opec's decision on Friday to cut oil production by one million barrels per day was necessary to mop up excess supplies and prevent a price crash.

Some 1,500 politicians, business and media leaders gathered in Dubai for a "meeting of minds" to discuss chronic political, social and development problems facing the Arab world and offer short- and long-term cures.

A top real estate developer said he expected an "adjustment" that will cool bubbling rental prices in Dubai.

The volume of trade between the UAE and China is rising at astronomical rates and is expected to total at least $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) in 2005.

A ministerial committee discussed several draft laws and agreements designed to regulate ways to boost unified economic and trade activities in the region.