The UAE has formally joined Pax Silica, a US-led bloc with “trusted” partners aimed at advancing innovation and supply chains as demand for artificial intelligence-centred technology booms.
The pact was signed in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday by UAE Minister of State Saeed Al Hajeri and US undersecretary of state for economic affairs Jacob Helberg, who is on a Middle East tour including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Mr Helberg also invited Mr Al Hajeri to a ministerial dialogue on critical minerals in Washington on February 4.
US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs
Mr Helberg said discussions for Saudi Arabia to join Pax Silica are in the “early stages”.
During his visit to Riyadh, both sides “started to have our first conversation”, he told The National.
“It would be premature to decide where the outcome is going to go after one meeting, but we feel good about where things are going,” he said.
UAE role
As a trusted partner of the US, the UAE will be able to fast-track investments under regulations imposed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, Mr Al Hajeri said.
“That gives you access to all the opportunities … it gives you access and seats on the table, which is very important,” he said.
“You're having access to technology that a lot of countries do not have but in a very structured way. Also, it gives you the confirmation that you are a trusted partner for these players where … you're also able to make investments together.”
The UAE will also be announcing an AI investment deal with South Korea “very soon”, Mr Al Hajeri said.
“A commitment with Korea is happening, and then more countries will be part of the UAE's strategy when it comes to investing in AI,” he said.
The US embassy in the UAE, in an X post on Monday, had hinted that the Emirates was to join, welcoming the participation “a key step in strengthening secure, resilient and innovation-driven supply chains critical to the AI era”.
The UAE was present in December for the initial Pax Silica meeting organised by the White House in Washington along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, UK, Israel and Australia.
On Monday, Qatar and the US signed the Pax Silica declaration. Mr Helberg said that by “bringing Israel and Qatar together under a single US-led framework, Pax Silica effectively fast-tracks diplomatic normalisation”.
India will also be invited to join Pax Silica next month, US ambassador to India Sergio Gor said.
Mr Helberg said Pax Silica is a “real coalition of capabilities”.
“The UAE is and always will be a cherished partner of the US … [we] can write the code for the next generation together,” Mr Helberg said.
“If the 20th century ran on oil and fuel, the 21st century will run on compute and the minerals that feed it.”
The Pax Silica declaration states that resilient supply chains are central to the signatories’ mutual economic security.
“We also recognise that artificial intelligence represents a transformative force for our long-term prosperity and that trustworthy systems are essential to safeguarding our mutual security and prosperity,” it said.
In recent years, the UAE has pushed to position itself as a global AI leader as it diversifies its economy away from hydrocarbons.
That drive has led to the establishment of start-ups, partnerships and investments from industry leaders including Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI.
The UAE has also teamed up with the US to develop the Stargate AI campus, which will include five gigawatts of capacity for AI data centres, in Abu Dhabi.
It has also created language models such as Falcon Arabic, which is part of an effort to ensure aspects of Arabic culture are not left behind in the AI surge, as many large language models were initially based on English language data.
In 2019, the UAE announced the establishment of a university dedicated to the tech, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.
Two years earlier, the Emirates was among the first countries in the world to appoint an AI minister, Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.
