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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Six Arab countries, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, launched on 1 January 2008 Gulf Common Market of 35 million people and economy of more than $700 billion. The common market is expected to offer equal opportunities for all citizens in the trade bloc to work in all government and private institutions in member states, and which is especially important, to buy and sell real estate in any country, and to make other investments, to move freely between the member countries, and to receive education and health benefits in any one of them. The new trade bloc that accounts for more than half of the entire OPEC oil reserves expects thus to have a stronger say in trade talks with other trade giants and blocs, such as the European Union. The irony is that the member countries' main trading partners are located outside the new bloc. The Gulf Common Market will try to change this, by increasing the internal trade from meager 10 percent to at least 25 percent.

The countries forming the new trade bloc are strange trade partners. At first glance, they represent very similar economies, based mainly on huge oil sector and ruled by hypertrophied bureaucracies staffed by local citizens with no other skills than strong family connections. In this sense, adding similar economies to each other shouldn't make any significant change and be of any significant benefit for any of them. This similarity, however, isn't always so absolute. Some countries allow freely private property to foreign buyers, some impose severe restrictions; some countries try to diversify their economies, some don't. The bottom line is that the political regimes in all of these six countries represent traditional elites, fearing both political liberalism and religious fundamentalism. These countries aren't just economic copies of one another. They are very similar in many respects, but compatible in others.

To illustrate the added value of the Gulf Common Market to any of these countries, let's take the issue of investments. Regarding the outside world, these six countries represent variety of investment regimes, more or less liberal. In countries with less liberal regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, and very conservative attitudes towards the foreigners in general, the Gulf Common Market will effectively eliminate most of the restrictions without actually producing strong social opposition; the way this will be done would involve easing the restrictions to the citizens of the countries with more liberal regimes, such as the United Arab Emirates. In the case of the Gulf Common Market, the latter will play the role similar to that of Hong Kong vis-à-vis China during the first stages of the economic opening. Thus, the largest country in the bloc, Saudi Arabia, will be involved in more global financial transactions without the necessity to make drastic liberalizations and to put in danger the political and physical survival of the ruling elite.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.