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"It's important to be realistic," says Ahmed of the Discount Baume & Mercier. "We don't think the growth we have experienced in the past 10 years will continue in the next three to four years. No one in the world will have [the same levels of growth]." Discount Bell&Ross that prospect, it is likely to be many years before Manama, Doha or Dubai can claim to be more than a local market. As to which one is best placed, Discount Blancpain "We'll need to see what happens when the regional and international economies return to more normal, healthier states to see which of those centres comes out most convincingly," he says. "Discount Breguet expectation is that Dubai is still likely to be at the forefront, but there will be clear roles for those other centres as well." Even if it is at the forefront, it is still far too early to say that Dubai and the DIFC is filling the gap between east Asia and Europe when it comes to financial services, as Sheikh Mohammed promised it would back in 2002.