The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) aims to enhance the competitive edge of its industrial sector by creating an industrial investment journey in the capital city of the UAE. During the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM Global 2023), Arafat Al Yafei, the Executive Director of the Industrial Development Bureau at ADDED, announced the department’s intention to provide more incentives to attract investors.
“Very soon, we are going to announce the Abu Dhabi industrial investment journey,” he said. “The Abu Dhabi government, especially the economic department, is providing good incentives for investors to come to establish their licence. We will take care of the investors [throughout their journey”.
According to reports, the emirate is determined to enhance the competitiveness of its industrial sector by implementing initiatives and programmes outlined in the Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (ADIS), while simultaneously pursuing its development. The ADIS was launched in the previous year, and it involves an estimated investment of AED 10B by the government, which aims to grow Abu Dhabi’s manufacturing sector to AED 172B, create 13,600 skilled jobs, and increase the emirate’s non-oil exports by 143% by 2031.
“The strategy [ADIS] is cascaded into six confirmation factors,” Al Yafei continued. “One of them is to ensure that [we are] creating the ecosystem for the industry. He explained further that the ADDED has created special training programs for transformations to help enhance the industrial sector in Abu Dhabi.”
The ADDED is concentrating on attracting investments in cutting-edge technologies as part of its strategy. “The future, as everybody knows, goes towards artificial intelligence [AI],” Al Yafei said. “Now, if you don’t have the infrastructure for that, if you don’t invest in that, then I think you will not be competitive internationally.” Sustainable development is also key, he added.
“We are also trying to ensure the industrial sector of Abu Dhabi is in line with the commitment of net zero. We are trying to ensure that we have a circular economy,” he said. “We want to be aligned with zero tolerance, and we cannot allow any investment in the industrial sector, [that does] not respect the environment for all the ESG [environmental, social, and governance] initiatives will be affected.”
Dubbed as ‘Industry 4.0’, the new plan aims to elevate the country’s industrial competitiveness to a global level through the implementation of a circular economic model, talent development, ecosystem enablement, homegrown supply chain, and value chain development.
The plan includes various initiatives, such as the investment journey, which seeks to attract disruptors and innovators to invest in the emirate and other parts of the country. The ADDED’s long-term strategy also involves investing in schools to prepare students for future requirements and creating a mix of international and local talent to ensure that the city meets the industry’s needs.
“The new generation is nothing like us; they are looking at lifestyle, they are looking at safety, they are looking at security globally,” Al Yafei concluded. “So, we opened an office that looks at the entire family in terms of getting employment.”
