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Lubna Al-Qasimi, left, runs the online marketplace Tejari.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- People have been trading in Middle Eastern markets for hundreds of years.

First it was the spices and gold that gave the region its flavour.

More recently, the trade has been around the oil fields, where the black gold is starting to run out.

Now Dubai has returned to its roots in a new way. The tiny emirate sees information and e-commerce as the next goods to trade.

The creation of Dubai Internet City, with its collection of gleaming office buildings and manicured garden, has spawned a centre for the information age. It's now the regional headquarters for companies like Microsoft and Oracle.

"For the first time we are seeing presidents and kings being interested in software and talking to Oracle and other companies in the IT industry," says Oracle vice president Husam Dejani. "So when you get that level of attention, you better show committment, and we're already starting to see a lot of results from this attention."

Making the Middle East a high-tech success has been hard. The area accounts for only 1 percent of global technology spending. If Dubai Internet City has led the way, others like Egypt and Jordan aren't far behind.

"We look at ourselves as a positive change element within the region," said Dubai Internet City CEO Mohammed Gergawi. "That's what the international companies look at us as, a positive change element. ... A lot of people copy us, a lot of governments will reinvent themselves. What we are creating here is really a new Middle East."

More than government support has made Dubai the high-tech center of the Middle East. Dubai has a long history of openness and tolerance of trade. And perhaps it is Dubai's status as the trading port of the Middle East that has allowed the international information trade to flourish here.

The government promises freedom of expression at Dubai Internet City and neighboring Dubai Media City.

Some question whether the government has the stomach for the kind of openness to companies and ideas that run contrary to beliefs in this part of the world.

But many here put a premium on holding true to those beliefs, says Lubna Al-Qasimi, who was hand-picked by the ruler of the United Arab Emirates to run online marketplace Tejari.com.

Tejari means "trade and commerce" in five regional languages, including Arabic, and trade and commerce is certainly the language of choice in Dubai.

"While you utilize the Internet and you do all the different nice things from that, the culture in terms of the families and the socializing ... certainly remains the same," says Al-Qasimi. "I think that's the beauty. I mean, you can think global, but as long as you act local, that's very, very critical."

The theory is fine. The practice may prove more complicated. Information is one commodity that brings with it a host of challenges for a new generation of Dubai's rulers.

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