For the first time in its history, The Times is to be published in the Middle East.

That the region is misunderstood would be what the US President would call a “misunderstatement” in one of his language-mangling moments of political analysis. The words “Middle East” connote conflict and chaos, and so the region’s economic potential is ignored by companies and countries which would benefit from closer scrutiny of the region and from a recognition that each country in the area has its own past and a future of possibility, not of pessimism.

It is said of very many countries that they know much more about the outside world than the outside world knows about them. But the proximity of the Middle East to Europe, and the vast commercial and cultural links between the two regions, should provide a foundation for something more enlightened than studied ignorance.

A serious newspaper needs to provide coverage not just of the tragedy of Iraq or the nuclear ambitions of Iran, but of the great social experiment that is Jordan and of the extraordinary growth in the United Arab Emirates. There needs to be better reporting of the capital flows from Saudi Arabia and, for example, of the increasingly complex links between Egypt and China, whose influence on the region may be self-described as commercial, but is clearly and inherently political.

While it is right to recognise the imbalance of interest between, say, Dubai and the United States, that is not itself a reason for the region to be ignorant of the outside world. For all the importance of technology, and the fact that change in the contemporary world is digitally compressed, there is no more important resource in any country than its people.

To talk about “human capital” is crassly to commoditise our existence, but it also recognises that we have potential and choices and opportunity, all of which are dependent on informed decision-making, which itself is dependent on a free flow of information and debate. There is no doubt that India has an intellectual and cultural advantage over China through its free press and vigorous political debate, and that countries in the Middle East that not only allow, but encourage, thought and argument will flourish, while those that restrict debate will limit the development of their people.

We are proud to publish a special supplement on the Middle East and are particularly honoured that we will soon be published each day in a region that is destined to play an increasingly influential role in the world.

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