One of the world's biggest development companies flew into the region today and said it was "serious" about transforming the Tees Valley.

Emaar Properties, responsible for turning Dubai into a thriving city from a desert outpost, is planning to perform the same economic miracle in Teesside.

His Excellency Mohamed Ali Alabbar - Dubai's economic development minister and head of Emaar - flies into Teesside tomorrow and will meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight to discuss ambitious development plans.

Yesterday Emaar chief executive AJ Jaganathan said: "We are very serious about this otherwise I would not have flown my senior colleagues in to look at the sites available for development.

"I work about 14 hours a day seven days a week and I would not take the time out to visit if we were not very serious about investing.

"But this is not going to happen overnight. It has to be worked through the system.

"Once we go back and digest what we have seen here we will probably want to come back again a couple of times before we make any commitment. "But we believe we can make this happen."

Accommpanying Mr Jaganathan were Emaar's head of finance and his head of risk assessment, who will analyse the risk involved with investment in the Tees Valley.

Mayor of Middlesbrough Ray Mallon arranged the visit with Emaar, which is currently building the world's tallest tower in Dubai, when he was on a fact finding mission in the United Arab Emirates last year.

Today Mr Mallon gave a speech to Tees Valley business leaders and the Dubai delegation after showing Emaar, by air, the sites he hopes they will invest in.

He said: "I think there is an excellent chance that Emaar will invest in the area.

"Tony Blair is meeting His Excellency and that is an indication of how serious this is."

He added: "I am a man that deals in evidence and I have an abundance of evidence that Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley is ripe for takeover.

"I want to see the region compete with everywhere in the country and everywhere in the world.

"We have to be visionary. If we can have an economic miracle in Dubai you can have an economic miracle in the Tees Valley. "This is the field of dreams and if we build, they will come. If we don't build they will never come."

The Dubai delegation was flown over several sites - including Middlehaven in Middlesbrough, the Haughton Road development in Darlington and North Bank in Stockton - to show them which areas they could invest in.

Emaar is responsible for world-class hotels in Dubai including a hotel in the shape of a sail and a hotel in the shape of a wave.

Mr Mallon said: "We want Middlesbrough to be a designer label town.

"I want it to compete with every city in the country by being different.

Emaar does not see boundaries to what they want to do."

Mr Jaganathan said he was impressed by Mr Mallon's leadership skills and said that was what attracted the company to the area.

"If the leadership is willing to break the mould it brings a certain charisma to the mix and you can achieve anything," he said.

Emaar, which had a turnover of two billion US dollars last year, specialises in residential developments, commercial developments, business parks, retail parks and leisure.