Big Picture

When His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy (pictured), took to the Gitex Global stage in Dubai in October last year to present the UAE’s business case for investment, Dubai had just retained its position as the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment projects in the first half of 2022 – marking a staggering 80.2% year-on-year jump.

In fact, the UAE experienced one of the fastest recoveries from the Covid-19 pandemic with foreign trade surpassing AED 1 trillion in the first half of 2022, and the UAE expecting 6.5% GDP growth by the end of 2022, including a rise of 4.3% for the non-oil sector.

His Excellency said the “fuel” for any economy is talent, and that the UAE is making “huge” investments in R&D and supporting talent development through its focus on science and technology.

The UAE is expected to be the fastestgrowing economy in the Arabian Gulf in 2023, according to the latest projections from the IMF – and is expected to growth 4.2% outpacing Saudi Arabia (3.7%) and Qatar (2.4%).