Name: Fortune Global Forum 2023: Charting The Path Of Economic Growth In Abu Dhabi
Uploaded: 2023-11-29
Duration: 15 min 34 s
Description: H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED); Chairman, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) In conversation with: Alan Murray, FORTUNE

H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED); Chairman, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) In conversation with: Alan Murray, FORTUNE 

Fortune Global Forum 2023: Charting The Path Of Economic Growth In Abu Dhabi

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So one of the things that's fascinating about being in Abu Dhabi is to see how strategic the emirate has been in developing an economic plan for the future. The Abu Dhabi 2030 vision plan provided a kind of a road map since it was written in 2005 that the country has followed to diversify industry beyond oil and also to prepare for a post oil world. And we've seen a lot of the evidence of it since we've been here for the last 48 hours. But we're going to uh talk about that a little bit more with our next guest. He is our host, his Excellency Ahmed Yasim Al Zabi, he's chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, also heads Abu Dhabi global markets. He is a leader of the efforts for economic growth to further enhance the falcon economy and please welcome him to the stage now. Good to see him. I I first of all, I have to thank you for a fabulous dinner last night. That was quite a spec spectacular show you put on for us. Thanks very much. In fact, uh give his excellency a round of applause for him. No pleasure. It was great. So, so it's clear being here in, in Abu Dhabi that, that oil is a great boon to your emirate. Uh But it can also be uh we've seen in, from historical examples, it can also be a burden and because you know, it won't be there forever to drive you and the efforts that this, that Abu Dhabi has made to diversify, its economy are really quite spectacular. Can you talk a little bit about how you keep the focus on diversification and how you're thinking about a post oil economy? Well, uh first, uh thank you for having me. Uh And I hope you guys had fun last night. Uh We did, we all did. I think uh the world is looking at uh a transitionary period. Um And I think more so than ever, that transitionary period is more important to countries that are uh oil and gas uh dominant. So us too, we have to go through that transition. Probably we have to go through it way more than what uh other countries have to go through. So we've been uh diversifying away from uh oil and gas. We've been uh we've reached uh this quarter in Abu Dhabi, around 54% of our uh GDP is non oil. So we're heading towards a uh to in the future to 80% of that to be non oil. Uh We have a strategy, a diversification strategy. Which we have specific sectors that would be so focusing on going forward. Uh It's been, uh it's been going very well and uh hopefully in a couple of years, the results are gonna be more and more apparent for, for everyone to see. And the 80% non oil uh economy uh that comes when, what's your target date? The, uh we're still going through the uh the numbers. Uh you know, there's, there's always a debate between economists on when is the right, uh, and responsible date of actually pulling a target, but we're still going through it. However, I, I do not foresee it in the next 2 to 3 years, of course, but this is AAA much longer period, uh, strategy. Uh, and however, I think we'll be there, uh, way faster than what people anticipate faster than anticipated, faster than what people would anticipate. All right. So let's talk about some of the pieces of that, uh, finances a piece very near and dear to your heart. I'm not sure. Uh, everyone fully understands what you built over there at, uh, AD GM. But can you talk about, uh, where you were taking Abu Dhabi in terms of, uh, being a financial hub? Well, I think Abu Dhabi has all the, uh, the attributes of a major financial center, uh, global, major financial center. I think we've got, we're the safest city in the world. We've got, uh, uh, amazing infrastructure. We've got a progressive regulators and progress, progress regula regulations in general. Uh, and I think it's, uh, it's only, uh, uh logical for, uh, the financial center of a w to become one of the biggest. We're, we're on a trajectory probably to be, uh regionally, probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest in the next 2 to 3 years. Uh, post that I think will be uh competing globally on that first place. And I think we're, we're on track to do to, to do so and talk about how you've done that. I mean, th that's the, that's an impressive comment you've made, you think you're on track to be potentially the largest financial center or one of the largest, one of the largest, I think, uh it's very simple. Uh Just, you know, I think my problem with regulators and before I became, uh you know, the chairman of the financial district of the Financial Center is they never listen, you know, regulators never listen. And so the first thing that I did when I stepped into the uh to the, to the Financial Center is I sat to the regulators and said to them, I want you guys to listen to the market and according the uh uh work towards uh whether re regulations or deregulations vis a vis what the market uh is asking for. And I think that made a big difference and, and uh and how people perceive uh the, the ad GM and why it became so attractive and why it attracted a lot of companies and assets into, into the center. And I think that's why we're growing exponentially. And we've, we've been doubling every year and I think we'll, we'll continue with that rejected and concede from the application. And it's not just regulators, it's also a court system. You showed me when I visited you this summer, your virtual courts at AD GM you have your own court system that is working very, very well in terms of encouraging people to move here. Yes. So the uh the Financial Center, AD GM has a, it's an English common law jurisdiction. Uh It, it's a direct application of English common law uh in the region. I think there's uh uh uh three that are direct applications. It's uh ad GM Hong Kong and Singapore. And I think there's an advantage of having the direct application of single com English Common Law and we've got an English Common Law court. So we've, I think we've got my belief, I think we've got the best bench of judges uh worldwide, I think. Uh and that bench is getting stronger and stronger. It's attracting a lot of the best judges in the world into this, into the court system. It's a, it's also a hybrid court so you can come physically or you can come. Uh you can do it uh electronically, we've got an equ uh from end to end. Uh That's why during COVID, we weren't really affected because we had it end to end uh uh electronically. And are you seeing people move financial offices from Hong Kong and Singapore to Abu Dhabi? I think uh uh there, there has been a big move. Uh I mean, the most notable one was, of course uh Ray Da, the DA family office moved to, to, to a DC M and I think uh big names are already there. Uh You know, on track to be there soon. You know, some of the very famous team have already moved into Edgm. Uh the blue chips that we know of uh Ray Dalio will be here tomorrow. So we'll ask him about uh why he made the move. Maybe he'll have some good words to say about what you've done. Let's talk about some of the other industries, health care has been a big focus. Can you talk about what you're doing there? Yes, I think life sciences in general is gonna be, it's gonna play a pivotal role in our diversification. Uh uh You know, going forward, I think, uh you know, we're, we're investing a lot in life sciences in general, you know, and uh you know, whether it's uh we've, we've already made the first step into vaccines, but we, we're expanding even more in other areas. Uh You know, we think health care in general is gonna be a pivotal uh not only uh as a, a cornerstone of attracting talent into the country, but also uh health care in, in, from a perspective of actually exporting uh uh uh you know, that industry outside to, to other countries. So that's where it's not only health, life sciences and health care. We're also focusing on uh we've spoken about fin uh finance services, but we also are heavily focusing on technology, which is gonna be AAA major uh sector and, and the UAE specifically, I think we're also investing a lot into A I. Uh we've got several initiatives that we have. We're investing a lot in autonomous vehicles. We just announced the Savvy cluster, which is the smart autonomous vehicle industries that has been attracting a lot of big players in autonomous vehicles also to come here. Yeah, we're diverse uh sector mix. We're gonna talk about some of the things going on in the area of A I in, in uh the UAE later on today with the uh the world's only uh minister of A I I believe. Uh um but, but I want to talk to you about alternative energy a little bit because I know that's been an area of focus and there are clearly people in the world. Uh Former Vice President Al Gore is one of them who, who, who believe you can't be producing oil and investing in alternative energy at the same time that there's a conflict of interest there and you can't be trusted with the transition. Tell me how Abu Dhabi is managing that making so much money off the sale of fossil fuels. But at the same time, serious investing in the next generation of technologies, you know, I wish the world is uh is, is uh is a switch. Uh because that statement would have been uh uh very accurate. However, you know, unfortunately, and disappointment to a lot to a lot of people, the world is not a switch, you know, it needs, that's why it's called transition. You need to transition into something else. Uh countries do not move, the world cannot move from one uh energy source to another energy source just by switching a switch and saying, let's go all renewable. It's, it's, it's much bigger than that. So naturally, you know, it's important that uh you know, we transition responsibly also uh going forward. What we have been doing. Renewable energy is not a new sector for the UAE or Abu Dhabi. You know, we've, we've invested in the renewable energy since 2005 when people didn't believe that uh renewable was uh you know, uh important at that time. You know, we've invested, we've put a lot of money into, in, into that. We have one of the biggest companies in the world that Mazda that is doing that. So we've always believed in new and we've always believed in transitioning. We always knew that it's time to transition. We have the cleanest lowest cost battle in the world we know, we know when you look at it's, it's when I talked about people, I said to people that battle of oil was not the cleanest, out of coincidence. We've worked on that throughout the years, you know, uh zero flaring policy were there since the nineties. You know, and, and, and a it wasn't a phenomenon that we just came across. So, uh we've been using that those funds that we're generating out of the oil and gas sector to actually transition transition and renewables and transition into other sectors. Uh like financial services, tourism, health care, life sciences and technology in general. So that's how you transition. Uh And I think it will do the world that this service if we switch off the lights uh in one go, I think everything is important. We need to transition responsibly and we need to be aware that, you know, not everyone is privileged around the world as, as, as some are in some, in some places. So we need to be aware of that. When do you think you will turn off the switch on oil if ever? I mean, the discussions in general in the world is about peak oil. When will that peak oil be? You know, and that, that, that point has been moving from one year to another. So we used to say 2040 then 2035 and 2030 no one really knows, you know, uh when that peak oil is but what's important is, is when, when is not, when will we switch off the, the, the, the, the lights on, on oil and gas is actually, when can we actually be uh carbon neutral? When can be, when can we reach a stage as a, as a globally where we actually do not need oil anymore? That's what's important, I think for us and I think that's, that's not any time soon. I don't think it's gonna be in 20 uh 30. I think it's going to take some time, but I think we're getting very close to that. Yeah. Uh last question to do all you're talking about, you have these ambitious technology plans, healthcare, finance, alternative energy to do all of that. You need talent. Uh uh Abu Dhabi, the UAE fairly small population. Can you get the talent? You need to meet your grand ambitions? I mean, I mean, 100% I don't think that there is anywhere in the world that is as attractive as the UE. Uh you know, I think progressive regulations has 200 nationalities, uh you know, a tolerant country, neutral country objective. Uh you know, amazing weather, most parts of the year, let's say nine months of the year. You know, we, I was here in August. Yeah, and very safe and, and the safest city in the world, four of the safest cities, uh 44 of the top 10 safest cities in the world are uh cities of the UAE. So that tells you why talent will all be always be attractive in here. So, uh II, I think we've all, we're already doing that. We're attracting a lot of talent. But I think, uh uh you know, in the next couple of years, I think the UEE and probably the region also, I think will, will be a magnet to a lot of the talent uh around the world. Uh You're excellent. So, thank you for that. Thank you for the dinner last night, your partnership for uh with this conference. We hope we can do it uh again in the future. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thanks for having. Thank you.