UAE working towards connecting 'new centres of growth' globally

Minister of State for Foreign Trade tells Atlantic Council event that UAE is becoming 'global management point'

Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade. Victor Besa / The National

Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, on Thursday spoke on economic diversification and modernising trade at an online Atlantic Council event, as the country continues bolstering its role as a global hub.

“Over the last two decades, the UAE has positioned itself as a key trade enabler and the next two decades, we aim to connect the new centres of growth across the world,” Dr Al Zeyoudi said.

“We're focusing on new sectors such as FinTech, AgriTech, health care, e-commerce — which for sure will support the core competencies of manufacturing and logistics.”

Dr Al Zeyoudi said that the UAE was working to become the “global management point” for many sectors, while also hosting space for investment and start-ups.

That work also includes modernising trade and shipping centres to cement the UAE's role in the global supply chain.

“We are actively working with the World Economic Forum to take an initiative that will inject more technology into the global trading system,” Dr Al Zeyoudi said.

“Doing this global adoption of electronic shipping deployments alone would save the world $4 billion.”

The Atlantic Council's online event took place during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings currently taking place in Washington.

Dr Al Zeyoudi emphasised the Emirates being “strong advocates for multilateralism” and as this concept's “most successful model”, pointing to the several comprehensive economic partnership agreements it has made with countries globally.

He addressed the UAE's high level of food imports “because of the scarcity of water” and “harsh weather” but said the country was “building a very resilient system”.

Dr Al Zeyoudi also briefly discussed the coming Cop28 climate summit that will take place in Dubai this November.

“We're going to tackle some of the main challenges that face the region and how it's spreading out around the world when it comes to food security, water scarcity, energy transitions,” he said.

“Those are going to be an integral part for the most of the discussion.”