CAIRO: In this year’s Foreign Policy Magazine s Global Cities Index, Cairo ranked 38, scoring high on political involvement but poorly on business activity.
The index ranks the world’s most globalized cities across five dimensions, with Cairo coming in number 38 out of 60 listed countries, with a surprisingly low level of cultural attraction (45) considering its large foreign population and the fact that tourism is one of Cairo’s biggest revenue earners.
The index is a collaborative effort by Foreign Policy, A.T. Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to nail down the cities most affected by globalization while presenting a wholesome picture of each city relative to the rest.
In an increasingly interconnected world, the index offers a comprehensive ranking of the ways in which major cities are integrating with the rest of the world.
Other dimensions upon which cities were measured include human capital, where Cairo came in 28 – right after Munich – and informational exchange, where it ranked 17.
Informational exchange refers to the extent to which news is vastly circulated among the city as well as the amount of international news making headlines in local daily papers.
Cairo’s local newspapers and magazines have significantly increased in recent decades. Although most are heavily monitored and even censored, the increase in the number of mediums through which information is shared has contributed to the involvement of the literate – and minority – sects in global affairs.
In a somewhat unpredictable statistic, according to the index, Cairo is listed as one of the best cities to become a diplomat. This is based on the number of embassies, consulates, trade missions, think tanks, local organizations with international reach, headquarters of international organizations and political conferences held in Cairo.
Although Cairo remains in the third quartile of the index, neighboring oil-rich metropolitan Dubai ranks 27, with somewhat high levels of human capital and informational exchange.
Dubai, where most of the population comes from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and some western countries, has experienced an influx of migrant workers in recent years who contribute to its booming economy as one of the region’s leaders in real estate and construction.
The Turkish capital, Istanbul, which was also included in the index, ranks 28, following the Emirati city Dubai. Istanbul ranked high on both levels of human capital and political engagement, being affected by both Europe and the Arab region.
Coming as no surprise, the top three cities were New York, London and Paris, respectively.
