Burgess COMMENTARY
Today I have listened to Angus Blair of the Signet Institute talking on Bloomberg Radio, and found his observations very reasonable and useful. His viewpoint was generally balanced and not in any way jingoistic. I particularly liked him stessing that ordinary people are not represented well by the leadership ... especially in places like Iran. My initial impression is that their commentary is worth listening to.
Peter Burgess

Cairo launch of regional research body

A new Cairo-based think-tank aims to capitalise on an increased demand for information and comment on the Middle East in the wake of the Arab spring.

The Signet Institute is being launched at a time when analysis of the region faces conflicting pressures. Global media interest has increased alongside revolutions and their aftermaths, but those same revolutions have led to a closer scrutiny of independent think-tanks and media outlets, particularly those with international connections.

Years of low liquidity in regional financial markets also led many brokers and investment houses to scale back their research units, which had historically been a significant source of independent commentary and analysis.

Angus Blair, Signet’s founder, is aware of the increasing scrutiny of organisations commenting on political affairs, but believes the institute will become a valued part of the economic conversations that are growing in importance across the Middle East.

“Debates about a region and its future should take place within it,” he says. “What we are doing is beneficial to this region. It may be unsettling for some to see critique, but it has to happen, and there is an enormous interest today in these economies and their opportunities.”

Mr Blair has covered capital markets and economic developments across the Middle East since the early 1990s, when he worked on the regional expansion of the UK’s Barings Securities. In 2006 he became the head of research for Egypt’s Beltone Financial. He recently left Beltone to lead the institute full-time.

Signet’s work will combine quantitative economic and financial analysis with broader political and social enquiry, which he says is crucial in understanding the Middle East during its transition period.

“Like any emerging market, politics here are as important as economics, unfortunately,” he says. “The two are inextricably linked, and research needs to consider both to give a full picture.” The institute, which has hired two researchers and is looking to hire two more, is putting the finishing touches on its first two reports. One, focused on desalination, will be the first in a series of papers looking into water use in the Arab world, with the other exploring the remittances market.

In researching and commenting on topics of public policy, Signet will need to carefully navigate the region’s political landscape, which has become more sensitive to organisations that are seen to take an interest in state affairs.

Western-funded non-governmental organisations such as the American National Democratic Institute and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation have been shut down in Egypt and the UAE in recent months, while in mid-2011, the Gulf Research Centre, one of the region’s best-established think-tanks, was denied a permit to remain operating in Dubai, due to what it said were objections by the Dubai government to “various aspects” of its work.

In late March, the polling organisation Gallup announced it was shutting its Abu Dhabi office, which operated as a hub for its research into public opinions in the Muslim world. The closure was a “strategic” decision, said Gallup.

Mr Blair says Signet’s structure, as a membership-based organisation that will produce public commentaries and members-only discussions, will allow it to choose which research topics are best suited for public or private audiences. The combination of political and economic research is important, he says.

“Policymakers are natural members for us, along with business people from the region and of course internationally,” he says. “We won’t just be making policy recommendations on a topic, we will be highlighting the opportunities for the private sector. And there are many.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012.