Not so long ago, Qatar consisted of “two camels at a crossroads”. It was Bedouin territory, not much more than sand and stones. Now, thanks to oil, it’s got a Ridley Scott skyline and as much Prada and Gucci as you can buy.

Alex Salmond is hardly the first western leader to pack his lightweight suit and best begging bowl with a view to tapping into one of the highest GDPs in the world. Salmond hopes some of Qatar’s £34 billion oil fund might finance the new Forth road bridge, schools and hospitals the SNP promised before the election, but which have yet to materialise. Borrowing from a Muslim monarch will, he hopes, be more politically acceptable than the discredited PPP system of financing public projects.

It’s a bold idea, although one that the Irish and Welsh administrations had before him. As a former oil economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Salmond can see that the figures add up. But will he be able to pull off the deal? And what do we know of this tiny emirate and the ruler who could soon become our Arabian sugar daddy?

If Salmond is unlucky, he will taste the Qatari system before leaving Heathrow. Should any of the country’s five princesses happen to be on the same flight, he might find himself sitting on board, seatbelt fastened, drumming his fingers until the princesses have finished their duty-free spree. There is no question of unloading their luggage and taking off without them. Qatar Airways, the national airline, holds the flight until they have finished shopping.

When he arrives, Salmond can be assured of a magnificent welcome. “He will be greeted as a visiting head of state,” says one former resident. “If they don’t put him up in the palace, he’ll be at the Ritz-Carlton”. As this is a spectacularly opulent five-star hotel on the waterfront, complete with its own golf course and luxury shopping mall, this should not be a notable hardship. “They will give him a cavalcade. He and the emir will get on like a house on fire.”

“The fact that he’s the first minister matters,” says an Arab business insider. “They have great respect for people in power. And Gulf Arabs are exceptionally polite and hospitable.”

The Qataris have much to be polite and hospitable about. A former British protectorate, it gained independence in 1971. The current emir ousted his father in a bloodless coup in 1995 and has taken the country in a more progressive direction than its draconian neighbours.

Women have the vote, are allowed to drive and wear western dress, although most choose to cover their heads and wear the full-length abiya.

The emir’s international status has been greatly boosted by his glamorous second wife, Sheikha Mozah. (“She is stunning,” says one expat who knows her through the charity ball circuit. “Like a Bond girl.”) As a Unesco special envoy for basic and higher education, she campaigns for women’s and children’s causes at home and on a world stage. Her son, Sheikh Tamim, is the heir apparent and one of her daughters, Sheikha Mayassa, has followed her mother into progressive causes, running Reach Out to Asia, an educational NGO.

Qatar is a small country. Based on a peninsula poking into the Persian Gulf, bounded in the south by Saudi Arabia, it has a population of about 900,000. Its oil supplies are reckoned to last for 22 years and it has roughly 15% of the world’s natural gas reserves. They have used their immense wealth to develop the country along progressive lines, developing a knowledge economy, investing in technology, education and the groundbreaking Al Jazeera television channel that is based here, encouraging financial services and developing the infrastructure. Having hosted the Asian Games in 2006, they bid for the 2016 Olympics but failed to make the candidate city shortlist. Qatari citizens pay no income tax.

All of which is likely to give Salmond, the head of a small, energy-rich state, pause for thought. If hot labels and electronic gadgets are not his thing, there is always the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club. Qataris are sports-obsessed, with football, tennis and golf the national favourites. Falconry is also popular, with Qatari enthusiasts coming to Scotland to buy birds. Armed with an opinion of the emir’s stable of Arabian horses, and the progress of the Champions League, which Qataris follow avidly, Salmond will have no shortage of conversation.

Being a Scot will give him, according to one former resident, a natural advantage. “They love the Irish and the Scots. They support the Palestinians and draw comparisons. They see both nations as small and hard-fighting, willing to stand up and be counted.”

Will Salmond be able to turn diplomatic hospitality into a long-lasting business relationship? This will depend, says an old Persian Gulf hand, on who he knows and how he handles himself.

“It all depends on how he approaches his trip, who sets it up and who he pitches his appeal to,” he says.

“Bringing out the begging bowl is not a good idea. It would be much better to say: I’ve got a fabulous idea that will make us both money: I’m a political economist — it’s a new financial instrument, it’s a racing certainty.

“Thousands of people go to the Gulf with great ideas of how to spend their money. In the past, at an institutional level, they have been taken for a ride, so they are very cautious.”

As a former resident puts it: “It takes a long time to build trust, and a long time to do business. For years the oil industry was run by expertise from the west. In the past, they felt that they were shafted.

“The emir’s generation were the first ones with real money and he is a bit of a socialist. He wants to see it all redistributed. The new generation have money like the kids in Hollywood. They don’t want to work. They have every conceivable gadget and some you’ve never even dreamed of. But they are more reactive. They are angry with the west because of the war with Iraq. The Scots and the Irish are still a special case but they are fundamentally angry with the west.”

It will take all Salmond’s political skills, and some new ones he will have to learn on his feet, to pull this one off. The chances of his flying home from his first trip to Doha with a hefty cheque are, says the Arab insider, almost nil.

“You have to build your case, make contacts, invite them over to see you,” he says. “It’s a process. I can envisage a scenario where they are extremely polite and helpful and he thinks, ‘we’re in’, but then nothing happens. He’s not in at all.”

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor