U.N. shoved aside by Dubai's growth

U.N. shoved aside by Dubai's growth

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 25, 2:36 PM ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The United Nations' honeymoon in Dubai has been brief. Two years after some U.N. agencies began setting up here, lured by free office and warehouse space, the emirate is asking them to move. Dubai is building its new financial district where the U.N. now sits.

One site identified as a possible new home for the U.N. is a warehouse park under construction on Dubai's desert outskirts, 20 miles from the city's glitzy center. The park, next to a seaport and new airport, makes sense for U.N. agencies dealing in aid airlifts.

But for diplomats like Ivo Freijsen, chief of the U.N.'s regional office for emergency relief, the move would be like shifting U.N. headquarters in Manhattan to an industrial district in New Jersey.

Used to occupying prime real estate in Geneva and New York, some U.N. officials aren't happy about the change.

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