Dubai is gearing up for its third international art fair in March 2009. This year it is going to  be a bigger fair with more participating galleries, curators and artists. According to some estimates Dubai Art fair is likely to surpass this year the total sales of both Beijing and Singapore Art Fairs. It is likely to be also the most important fair of Art in Asia.

 Dubai has some natural advantages over most of the emerging art centres in Asia. While Beijing still is not a fully free trade zone, Singapore does not have good representation of artists of many nationalities. Japanese art is too western and modern for the tastes of most Asian collectors. Besides Japanese involvement in Asian art market is very limited.

Dubai by contrast has no art-culture of its own and is adaptable to all forms of art. International artists find more easy recognition in Dubai provided their works are good. The free trade regime is an added advantage for international operators to operate here. Dubai has people from from every nationality and hence it is the best congregation ground for most artists. Infact keeping this image of the city, the art fair organisers have given priority to international galleries more than the local galleries.

Dubai has also seen the in the past few years rise of such institutions as the Global Art Forum wherein artists ad curators join for international seminars, discussions, etc. All this makes Dubai quite capable of handling a truly international fair.