For 39 local businesspeople, Sept. 18 will be a date to remember: the day they travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Although the Middle Eastern country will be exotic, its ties to Saratoga will make it seem a little like home, as chamber officials told their group Thurs. at a Holiday Inn dinner meeting. 

Saratoga is now linked to the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Matoum. ATIC is the parent company of GlobalFoundries, whose new chip fab in Malta’s Luther Forest has boosted the local economy and made a name for the region. 

Sheikh Mohammed is vice president and prime minister of the UAE, emir of Dubai, and leading partner in his family’s Godolphin Stables. He is a major figure in international Thoroughbred breeding and racing, owning horse farms in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Among his stateside properties is the former Hays Whitney farm, 106 acres on Nelson Ave. in Saratoga Springs. The sheikh regularly attends the Saratoga horse auctions, overseen by the Fasig Tipton Horse Auction House now owned by Dubai company Synergy Investments. He has spent more than $18.5 million at the Saratoga sales since 2008.

The chamber group will have the opportunity to see these businesses up close during the UAE tour to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. On day 3, the travelers will attend a reception with business leaders and area dignitaries at ATIC’s wafer-shaped headquarters. The chamber has also planned a personalized tour of the Meydan Racecourse, home of the Dubai World Cup.

--Jennie