Dubai
Having taken over as the Minister of State for Foreign Trade last July following the new UAE Government structure, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi is currently busy overseeing the development of non-oil foreign trade sectors and the expansion of global partnerships in what he sees will soon be a ‘post-pandemic world’.
Late last year, he became one of the first few UAE ministers to take a Covid-19 jab in order to “lead [his] colleagues, friends and family by example”. The petroleum engineer with a PHD from France and an MBA from New York, represents the face of a young and dynamic UAE Cabinet that he says is committed to combatting Covid-19 “faster than any other country in the world”.
The former UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment and permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is also a minister in charge of attracting and retaining talent at the Ministry of Economy, serving the strategic direction of the UAE.
In an exclusive, freewheeling chat during a visit to the KT HQ on Tuesday, January 11, he spoke about a range of topics, including UAE’s preparedness for life after the pandemic, the impact of the historic Abraham Accords that normalised relations between the UAE and Israel, as well as last week’s Al Ula declaration, which saw the GCC nations restore ties with Qatar.
As the minister in charge of attracting and retaining talent, what’s your role going to be like this year, especially as Dubai prepares to host the Expo 2020 Dubai a few months down the line?
Moving away from the pandemic will be our main focus from now until we start the Expo later this year. The world is facing the crisis and the consequences of the pandemic and, since I joined the ministry with my other brothers and colleagues after the government restructure, we have been working very hard in exploring what we can do to ensure we come out of this pandemic quicker than any other country in the world.
We have been looking at strategies that have been successful over the last 50 years to see what added value we can bring to drive the economy forward. The cabinet has rolled out some landmark laws lately, including personal laws to attract more talent to the UAE and facilitate their stay here. Residencies have been handed out to special categories and commercial laws [have been changed] to attract more investments into the country. We look forward to exploring more markets, opening new doors with our international partners.
The UAE is among the world’s most dynamic markets in terms of foreign trade and one of the world’s top 20 largest exporters and importers of commodities. Yet, oil products remain by far the largest item of exports. How do you see UAE’s foreign trade shaping up, post-pandemic?
Through the last five decades, we have managed to transform our dependence on oil and gas to transform ourselves into a more diversified economy. We have now reached an innovation-based economy. If you look at the numbers now, we are talking about 30 per cent dependence on the Oil and Gas sector as part of the overall GDP. —Agencies
