But in the United Arab Emirates there is nothing eternal - both the whole country and the individual emirate of Dubai have been changing right before our eyes, which inevitably brought about changes in our work. Suddenly, it turned out that trading and cargo companies ceased to be the main players in the local market. Developers swiftly took their place, vying to offer the most prosperous of our compatriots to buy a slice of a dream in buildings erected on a tiny patch on the coast of the affectionate Persian Gulf. Travel guides, who yesterday yesterday were happy to conduct excursions for earning one hundred dollars a day, unexpectedly turned into realtors, managers or even owners of their own companies. The day for which only one apartment was sold, they considered it extremely unfortunate - a miserable 5 thousand dollars of commission! It was then that the first issue of our third edition, the magazine "Business Emirates," was released.
Respectful tourists who know a lot about life and prefer to stay at five-star beach hotels have replaced small wholesalers, wearing shorts and slippers running around Dubai, renting a three-star hotel with two stars at the lowest price. They filled the elite boutiques in the prestigious shopping centers of Dubai, choosing goods based on prestige rather than price. I well remember the time when an exclusive white gold ring from a well-known company with an indecently large diamond was sold just a week after we placed its advertisement in our magazine. It was necessary to correspond to this level, and we grew up with the level of our dear (in the literal sense of the word) readers. The quality of the publication was changing before our eyes, its circulations and volumes were growing. The other day, out of curiosity, I climbed into the archive: the May issue of the Russian Emirates magazine in 2004 took only 68 pages (as publishers proudly call pages), the May issue of 2005 - already 128 pages, the May issue of 2006 - 164, the 2007 issue - 182 , 2008 - 212, 2009 - 220 pages of style, luxury, beautiful life and high fashion!
Yes, we all remember the crisis of 2008, which then crippled the entire world economy, without passing by the Arab Emirates. We remember unfulfilled plans, we remember broken hopes, we remember realtors who again became guides, sellers and drivers. But I also remember how, at the cost of inhuman efforts, we kept what was born by us and nurtured with love - our magazines, our projects. Thanks to the dedicated team, loyal partners and the legendary name “Russian Emirates”, we never stopped the printing press, did not reduce the quality, or fired a single employee. We are grateful to our readers, whose expectations could not be deceived and continued to work.
More than ten years have passed since the opening of the Russian Emirates Publishing & Advertising company, and you are holding the 64th edition of our title edition - the Russian Emirates magazine. And I am sure that I will definitely have an occasion to write something similar in another ten years, and you with the same pleasure will be flipping through the hundredth and even two hundredth issue of the magazine.
Enjoy reading and see you soon!
Sergey Tokarev
