Collaboration key to UAE’s economic growth, says Mubadala CEO

ABU DHABI: Collaboration with other countries is crucial for the UAE’s economic growth, the chief of one of the country’s most successful global investment companies has said.
Speaking at this year’s Investopia conference, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, the managing director & group CEO of Mubadala, said that such partnerships would help the UAE become a force for progress in the world.
“Challenges do not respect national borders and collaboration can accelerate and scale solutions,” he said on Thursday, adding that he believed it was one of three main drivers that would help advance the UAE’s economy.
Al-Mubarak said disruption could also help accelerate finding solutions to the most urgent matters. “Our focus on disruptive innovation is shaping our future economic base and creating solutions that others can benefit from,” he said.
He warned that the UAE would be wrong to rely on one commodity or sector to drive economic growth when trying to achieve sustainable development.
“His Highness the President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s remarks [on how] investing in the right sectors will allow us to celebrate the last barrel of oil is frankly profound,” he said.
Mubadala established Masdar, a UAE-government owned renewable energy company based in Abu Dhabi, almost 16 years ago. Al-Mubarak said many questioned the move by asking why a hydrocarbon-rich country would look beyond fossil fuels.
“We believe acting early will be critical for our future and in doing so will give us a competitive advantage,” he said.
Al-Mubarak added that creating opportunities was ‘everything’ when considering what drives success: While career choices were in the past limited, children now have an array of careers they can pursue in a country that is only 52 years old.
The UAE’s Minister of Economy Abdulla Bin Touq said at the conference that the country hoped to double its GDP over the next 10 years.
Building on those comments, Al-Mubarak said that such growth would be “underpinned by investment opportunities pursued by the very people in this room.”
He said the recently opened Etihad Rail freight network would have an estimated economic impact of about AED200 billion ($54.5 billion) by 2050.
Al-Mubarak has been a key figure in the development of Abu Dhabi’s economy, overseeing Mubadala’s expansion into a global investment powerhouse, including more than 200 investments across multiple sectors and countries.
Investopia was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum in partnership with recruitment firm SALT as a platform for investors, business leaders and governments to connect and identify new opportunities.
It announced its ‘Marketplace’ initiative on Wednesday to enhance the UAE’s attractiveness to foreign investments.