Economy

UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s recent visit to the United States underscores nascent U.S. success in persuading the UAE of the benefits of partnership and access to advanced technology and the risks of sticking with legacy Chinese tech partnerships.

Despite some large solar projects underway in the Gulf Arab states, mainly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East does not account for a significant share of total investments in clean energy.

Foreign direct investment flows into Saudi Arabia look set to pick up, but they are still likely to fall short of Vision 2030’s ambitious targets.

Gulf governments are looking to privatize their energy-intensive utility sectors, aiming to make public utilities more environmentally and financially sustainable.

While Gulf sovereign wealth funds have long invested in promising technology-focused firms, these investment vehicles are increasingly underpinning ambitious plans to reposition Gulf countries as global hubs for advanced technologies.

Efforts to diversify the Saudi economy continued to bear fruit in 2023, although oil is still the dominant economic force.

Gulf central banks can increase transparency by adopting credible reform agendas focused on the publication of accurate statistics, disclosure of analysis and forecasting methodology, and forward-looking explanations of policy decisions.

Six months after the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, rapidly changing regional dynamics threaten to jeopardize the potentially transformative initiative.