Abu Dhabi Finance Week apart, the capital is having a moment

A flypast at the Yas Marina Circuit at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Chris Whiteoak / The National

As I rolled through the last two weeks, swept up as the events season reached its crescendo in Abu Dhabi, it seemed more than ever, that in global terms, the UAE capital is having a moment. The energy of the city is at unprecedented levels.

As financial, business and commerce leaders populated the stages and halls of events including Abu Dhabi Business Week, the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit and Abu Dhabi Finance Week (with an F1 race sandwiched in between), it became clear to me that the attraction of the place went beyond the fact that the emirate has become a major draw for talent and capital.

The singular appeal for many who live, work and visit is that Abu Dhabi represents the antithesis of siloed thinking that has been holding back economies and societies elsewhere in the world.

As audiences this week in the capital heard about ambitious plans for – among other things – growing and developing AI, FinTech, infrastructure and small and medium enterprises, a concurrent thread fed the words. It was that co-operation and multilateralism are at the heart of this vision. Officials from government departments demonstrate how closely they work with the executives of companies across sectors, covering utilities, banks, aviation and transport, technology, energy and logistics to deliver it. Business and the private sector are equal partners in Abu Dhabi’s future.

The expectation is that by 2040 the population in Abu Dhabi would have doubled as the economy booms. By that time, livability and well-being in the city will also be at their highest levels, because there will have been a concerted effort to secure them.

Access to education, health care, housing, 5G and other fundamental services are a priority. As is a commitment to efficient and sustainable forms of transport and mobility. But even as lofty goals cannot be accomplished in silos, we increasingly see how easy it is to remain stuck in not-so-splendid isolation. The UK, for example, is determined to retool its government and break down barriers between departments and institutions, while making scant progress.

We all live in a world in which we confront many challenges – all of which require great co-operation to solve. Internationally, there is precious little determination to find common ground to resolve, for example, entrenched conflicts. Yet, with climate change, the most dangerous of all the problems, there is a blueprint emerging for a collective response.

With hindsight, it should no longer be a surprise that Cop28 delivered the UAE Consensus, including a move away from a reliance on hydrocarbons, given the UAE's commitment to diplomacy and dialogue.

There is still a big question about the direction of AI. Will it truly enable a more prosperous future, or will it compound the inequalities and struggles that exist today? Much will depend on the approach we take. Will it be an arms race or something more equitable? Again, in Abu Dhabi, we see a path between the thorns. The pillars underpinning the development of AI include building infrastructure at home and abroad that will be accessible to all parties seeking true partnership. It also includes taking a position that ethics matter. Not just how data is used and protected but also to work towards powering AI with cleaner sources of energy.

Ultimately, the pursuit of longevity, more effective cancer treatments, clean energy, sustainable food sources and other benefits for society will only be maintained by all actors who remain open to working together, rather than taking on a competitive mentality. It is a move away from the orthodox capitalism that drove globalisation and helped trigger a financial crisis. There is a growing recognition that allowing the market on its own to determine the winners and losers in any era could leave too many people behind and should never be acceptable.

So, Abu Dhabi is a living example of an evolved version of capitalism. It can show the way for others. Many nations are searching for a similar formula for prosperity. Increasingly, around the world, to arrive at that formula, governments are having to step back into fields that they had left to the private sector to run and develop, as key services and people suffer from under investment and talent drain.

Higher levels of migration – legal and illegal – driven by multiple factors have also strained communities and societies stuck in the mindset of a zero-sum game. There is no guarantee of success via the old system of competition for capital, talent and resources.

The only certainty is that trying to "win" anything only guarantees that we all lose, to differing degrees. Many people can and should play a role and more partners are better than fewer. That's the approach we see in Abu Dhabi. Other nations taking a similar one will help overcome the anxiety and fear about the future that has been such a drag on prosperity in the past.