Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed: industrial sector is priority for UAE’s economic growth

The UAE’s key focus for the next decade will be on growing its industrial sector and achieving greater self-sufficiency, said Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

On the second day of the World Government Summit, he said the pandemic had shown UAE decision-makers how few sources of food and medicines were produced in the Emirates.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic helped governments to realise the importance of the ability to manufacture products locally.

“We need to know what the key pillars are, which the state will focus on in the coming years, and the industrial sector is key to our country,” Sheikh Mansour said.

“When we entered the pandemic we realised its importance and there was pressure on local industry, with an increase in demands on local production.

“We were a little oblivious to the industrial sector. If we compare our revenue of the industrial sector to our GDP, 10 years ago it was 8 per cent and today the growth is 9 per cent and this is sad and shameful.

“We have to focus more on the industrial sector and support it even more. We have ambitious projects and we must set the priorities.”

Last year, the UAE launched the Operation 300bn strategy in hopes that it would transform the country into an industrial hub by 2031.

The strategy supports spending on local products and local suppliers, as well as promoting investment in research and development and incentivising adoption of advanced technology in the UAE.

It will focus on expanding sectors including petrochemicals, plastics and metals, and further develop food, water and health care industrial bases.

Sheikh Mansour said the new priorities require “raising the level of education” in the country, and that the “Emirati society must be open to foreign investments”.

“I hope our fellow citizens will participate in the foreign investments that we’ll see in the coming years,” he said.

“There are several priorities for the industrial sector, such as food, pharmaceuticals and the military industry.

“We have partnerships for the food industry with very important countries and they’ve started the knowledge transfer.

“For the pharmaceuticals industry, we have factories and an example of that is the Covid-19 vaccines we made here.”

He said that the "UAE is transparent" and a country that foreign investors “can rely and depend on”.

“No investor will find any legal violations or any surprises that could harm or impact their investment.

“The laws of the UAE are clear and if they need to be modified or adjusted, they will be. These laws will serve the interests of our country.

“My message for our people is to be positive and know that their leadership is very keen to focus on citizens and their productivity. They can benefit from the industrial sector and this is an opportunity for us to diversify our sectors.”

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed: industrial sector is priority for UAE’s economic growth

Deputy prime minister says pandemic showed how little food and pharmaceuticals were produced in the Emirates

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history