UAE eyes global leadership role

 

In order to carve out a new diplomatic and strategic role for itself in the increasingly split and multi-polar global geopolitical landscape, Abu Dhabi is speeding up its activities on the international stage and establishing relationships with both the east and the west. The UAE has agreed to join both the India-EU trade corridor at the G20 conference and the Brics group in Johannesburg. Both actions show that the nation wants to make even greater use of its advantages in trade and energy.

To promote its efforts to economically diversify and attract foreign direct investment, the UAE has been promoting itself for decades as a hub for global flows of capital, people, and ideas.

In order to preserve the UAE's economic momentum even in a post-oil future, the nation wants to become a hub for entrepreneurship, international talent, and rising technologies.

The Cop28 climate summit, the upcoming major event, is representative of much of this as well as the delicate balancing act of funding both the hydrocarbons industry and the technologies and infrastructure of the future.

The summit will determine whether the UAE can convince the world of its vision for the energy transition and whether its appeal for rational discussion between energy producers and consumers, or Global North and Global South, will be taken seriously.