This week, the Chrysler Building was sold to investors from Abu Dhabi, while the General Motors Corp. (GM) building in New York already is partly owned by Dubai.

Such sales highlight a common cognitive dissonance in the U.S. Go ahead and open many major American newspapers and you will have a jarring experience: in the news pages, the only Middle Eastern images you are likely to see are those of violent conflicts - such as the war in Iraq. Press on to the business pages, and you are likely to be met by a battery of stories about the Middle East as a growing center of investment for rising economies in Dubai - the new headquarters of Halliburton Co. (HAL) - as well as Qatar and, to a lesser extent, Kuwait and Egypt. Abu Dhabi is a major investor in Citigroup Inc. (C). And you can't go a day without seeing some big development involving Saudi Arabia's power over oil reserves.

How to navigate this world of mixed signals? You may well ask Nabil Fahmy, the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. At least, that is what the lawyers at Weil Gotshal & Manges did. Weil, which is soon to open a Dubai office and a Middle East practice headed by partner Joseph Tortorici, invited Fahmy to speak Thursday about how to invest in the Middle East. Fahmy - who was actually born in New York and has been the ambassador to the U.S. since 1999 - was invited by lunch moderator Mona Al-Sharwani, an Egypt-educated Weil lawyer who earned her U.S. law degree with a concentration in international finance from Harvard as well as a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.

Below, Deal Journal brings you some of Fahmy's advice and admonitions to Americans looking to do business in the Middle East, as well as what he believes the Middle East needs to do to attract investments.

U.S. investors should know .

-Don't come with money; come with ideas: Fahmy said he routinely gets requests from U.S. businessmen looking for good Egyptian businesses to invest in. But the region is awash in money already. "We want something to invest in...we need projects."

-Prepare to stick around: American investors "need to engage...if you think you can run into the Middle East and run back out, you will be sending the wrong message." Fahmy said that when U.S. investors speak to him about "putting money to work" in Egypt "it goes in one ear and out the other, because few of them say they want to invest [for the long-term]."

-Think twice before painting the entire society with a broad brush: The issue of terrorism and security is, of course, a big issue in the region. But "if you push the terrorism debate into a 'clash of civilizations' debate, you will offend your hosts in the region," Fahmy said.

-Understand the devastating cultural impact of the Dubai Ports World debacle: "If you support Dubai Ports-type solutions...frankly, I wouldn't give you my money."

-Be aware of the impact of American troops in Iraq on the entire region: "I'm very uncomfortable with a permanent presence of a foreign force in Iraq or anywhere...Your forces cannot be of a permanent nature, or you become the target of conflict." What the Middle East needs to do to become a bigger player on the world financial stage

-Recognize that petrodollars aren't enough: Fahmy noted with regret that, though he is proud that Egypt is a trendsetter in the region, Egypt's GDP is about $120 billion - or about one-third of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (WMT) revenue last year. "What comes next cannot be a resource-based economy; it has to be a multidisciplinary economy," Fahmy said. He noted that, while Egypt's GDP is increasing 6% to 9% a year, the information-technology sector is expanding at around 20%. "It's relatively new, so it hasn't suffered yet from the Egyptian bureaucracy," he quipped.

-Modernize the thinking in the banking system: Al-Sharwani quipped that she became "hooked on the ambassador" after they met six weeks ago. At the time, Fahmy said to Al-Sharwani that, as a diplomat immersed in an Egyptian bureaucracy 7,000 years in the making, he had plenty of time on his hands to think about what is wrong with the Egyptian economy. His conclusion: The country fails to think in terms of big ideas. "Egyptians like big buildings," he said to knowing laughter from the crowd. "Our banks are not used to financing ideas; they like to see cement, and they like to see bricks and stone."

-Change the thinking about business: Around 56% of Egypt's population is 26 years old or younger, and they are thinking more entrepreneurially than the old guard, Fahmy noted. But Egyptians still don't grasp the concept that a business can fail for legitimate reasons - like running out of money - and don't provide any room for business failures.

-Create an economy that is in line with international standards: Anyone who has traveled to Egypt as a tourist knows one of the central rules in the country's economy: be prepared to haggle. With no standardized prices, everything is up for negotiation. That largely holds true for many aspects of the larger economy. In order to attract foreign investment, Fahmy said, he has to show that Egypt is a large enough market to do business in and that it has business practices consistent with the rest of the world. That means creating accountability, transparency and a solid legal system.

-Be tough on terrorism: Fahmy bristled at the assumption that terrorism is exclusive to the Middle East. "We [in Egypt] were attacked by terrorists before you were," he said. He also pointed out that the Red Army, as well as factions in Ireland, Japan and the Basque country of Spain, show that every country has groups that commit acts of terrorism. "We all have terrorists and we need to marginalize those in our societies," he said. "You're not going to convince a terrorist to become a parliamentarian...but you can dry up his support."

-By Heidi Moore, The Wall Street Journal; 212-416-4976; heidi.moore@wsj.com [ 07-11-08 1225ET ]