The United Arab Emirates is deepening its ties with investors and trading partners in the United States as it continues to walk the path of economic diversification, the No. 2 diplomat in the Arab nation’s embassy said during a discussion with Atlantans Wednesday.
Shaima Gargash, deputy chief of mission, told the Atlanta Council on International Relations that Georgia was already among the top trading states with the Middle Eastern country, posting $650 million in exports there in 2020, including products like passenger vehicles, aircraft parts and generators.
The UAE, composed of seven emirates tied together by a federal state, owes its early dynamism and much of its present wealth to the oil sector, but it has steadily moved to diversify since what were formerly the British-ruled Trucial States grouped under a national banner 50 years ago.
Perhaps the best known of emirates, Dubai, has become a key global business and trade hub, with many companies operating regional headquarters out of a city that boasts major ports and the top airport for international travel in the world. Dubai this year will host a pandemic-delayed Expo 2020, becoming the first country in the region to host such a world exposition.
Abu Dhabi, the capital and largest emirate by land area, remains a key oil producer but is also embracing renewable energy through projects like the Noor Abu Dhabi Solar Park, the largest single-site solar farm in the world with 3.2 million panels. (U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is a recent visitor). Sharjah, another emirate, is undertaking a large waste-to-energy project, while last August, the UAE opened the first of four planned reactors at the Barakah nuclear power station, another first in the Arab world.
One aggressive goal for the country as a whole: to lower the proportion of national GDP attributable to oil exports from 30 percent to 5 percent by 2030, all while reducing its environmental footprint.
Ms. Gargash painted a picture of a country dedicated to innovation — having recently become the first Arab nation to launch a Mars probe (called the Arabic equivalent of “Hope”) — and inclusion along religious and social lines. She noted that half the members of the country’s consultative legislative body are women, that women outnumber men among university enrollees, and that they make up 80 percent of the workforce at Strata Manufacturing, an aerospace company that makes Boeing parts in the oasis city of Al Ain.
The country is also a promoter of “moderation and stability in the region,” she said while navigating a gauntlet of questions from the audience about the UAE’s relationships with neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, as well its role in countering Iran’s influence.
“Any dialogue in general to de-escalate and create more stability in the region, the UAE is up for it,” she said.
The UAE strives to maintain dialogue with all, even as it stands firm against hate and extremism, she said, pointing to the role of the Hedayah Center, a UAE-based think tank focused on countering radicalization that leads to violent extremism.
The country also made waves last August by normalizing relations with Israel through an agreement known as the Abraham Accords brokered by the U.S. (and to which Bahrain also signed on). Commercial and diplomatic links between the UAE and Israel are moving apace, she said.
All this amounts to substantial opportunity for Georgia firms, she said. Pressed by many in the ACIR’s virtual audience, she didn’t commit to opening a formal diplomatic presence or trade office in Georgia, but she did pledge assistance from the embassy.
“Atlanta is on our list,” she said, noting that the country would be leading delegations in both directions when the pandemic allows.
For all its high rankings on international lists for the ease of doing business, some firms — including in Georgia — have been tripped up by the UAE’s legal system, which can be tricky for non-nationals outside the free zones set up with foreign-friendly business regulations. Foreigners in are often caught unaware of prohibitions on certain behaviors. In November, the UAE relaxed rules prohibiting cohabitation of unmarried couples and limiting alcohol consumption to licensed premises, among other moves.
On the business front, Ms. Gargash said the country has laws to protect both investors and consumers and that the government aims to be as responsive as possible in helping foreign firms navigate disputes.
Only some 10-15 percent of the UAE’s 10 million population are nationals, the rest being expatriates or immigrants. It takes more than 30 years and fluency in Arabic to become a citizen.
Ms. Gargash said the country was looking at ways to better include its expatriate population in the growth of the economy, pointing to the integral role foreign nationals have played in building the country — both physically in terms of construction and figuratively through imported expertise.
“Without the expatriate population, there would not be a UAE today,” she said, noting reforms under consideration to the kafala system of recruiting largely unskilled laborers from South Asia and beyond, which has been criticized by rights groups along with other labor policies.
“Any constructive criticisms that comes to the UAE, we actually take it quite seriously,” she said.
Learn more about Ms. Gargash and the ACIR event here.
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