It’s official: the UAE loves the World Economic Forum; the World Economic Forum loves the UAE.
After three days of speeches, panels, brainstorming and networking, the tent-pegs were (metaphorically) pulled up on Tuesday on the WEF summit on the global agenda.
The annual summit, which has taken place in the UAE for the past seven years, is regarded as an agenda-setting exercise for the annual meeting in Davos in January. This year the summit took place amid a darker regional background than other times, with trouble to the north in Syria and Iraq, a falling oil price (a problem for the region rather than other WEF members), and a generally more pessimistic outlook with regard to global economic and geo-strategic issues.
Nonetheless, the summit produced much to take on to Davos: consensus that leadership needed to be strengthened to tackle the problems; a general agreement that the supply side of the economic equation had to be addressed to get world growth back on track; and a universal belief in the power of technology, communication and above all the internet to help resolve grave global issues.
These are three things – leadership, economic stimulus and technology – that the UAE does well, and the WEF appreciates that. In his speech under the Gate at the Dubai International Financial Centre on Monday night, Klaus Schwab, the chairman and founder of the WEF, described the DIFC as the “heart of capitalism”, which may not be the way they see it in New York, London or his native Switzerland, but he meant it as the highest compliment to Dubai and the UAE.
Emirati leaders at the event were similarly effusive about the work of the WEF.
The WEF has a habit of taking certain countries to its bosom. China, of course, has had a close relationship for more than a decade now; the WEF is one of the few foreign organisations allowed to operate virtually unhindered in China, which every year hosts what it calls the “summer Davos” in Tianjin.
Now it looks as though “special relationship “ status is also being extended to the UAE. After the formal end of the summit in Dubai on Tuesday, some 30 top policymakers from the UAE and the WEF went into conclave for a special session to further cement their commonality of interest.
Called “Future Circle”, the idea is to bring some of the big intellectual power of the WEF, with their armies of experts, to bear on issues that are of crucial interest to the UAE. Set in the context of the strategic plans that have been produced by both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the session will scrutinise areas such as health care, education, smart government and innovation, transport and - interestingly - space.
These are all areas in which the UAE has a particular interest, and which it has identified as specialism for the future development. The thinking is that the UAE can further enhance its reputation as the leading regional hub by fine-tuning its thinking on these vital issues.
The country has already ear-marked these sectors for future development, but the involvement of the WEF could bring them to cutting-edge status in double-quick time.
Space, in particular, is one area where the UAE will be especially keen to hear the thinking of forward-looking experts for guidance. The tragedy of the Virgin Galactic crash has caused many to wonder whether commercial space travel is viable at all.
The UAE, as partner in the Virgin adventure, will be hungry for the latest expert analysis of this issue.
It seems likely that the WEF and the UAE will agree it is a desirable project in the long term, exactly the sort of technology-led, aspirational goal that both the UAE and WEF value.
The first example of the UAE/WEF joint approach was signalled by the announcement from Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs, that the UAE and WEF will set up a joint advisory council. And robotics, another technology for the future in which the Emirates has a special interest.
It is fashionable to sneer at the “forum industry” as a talking shop where nothing concrete is ever achieved. The WEF summit in the UAE looks likely to prove that wrong.
fkane@thenational.ae
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