UAE firms back ethos to ‘make it in the Emirates’

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• Value of purchase agreements for local manufacturers rockets
• 5,000 sustainable job opportunities to be created for UAE nationals
• Industry’s contribution to national GDP increased 38%

National companies have spent AED31 billion ($8.44 billion) in purchases from UAE-based manufacturers since the inaugural Make it in the Emirates forum last year.

This is over a quarter of the figure targeted as part of a decade-long plan. Several companies committed to invest AED110 billion over the next 10 years to buy 300 products from local manufacturers.

Speaking at the second edition of the MIITE forum on Wednesday, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, minister of industry and advanced technology, revealed that 28 percent of these agreements had been implemented already.

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“This is an outstanding achievement,” he said, while also announcing that the value of purchase agreements for local manufacturers and industrial investments will increase by more than AED10 billion to AED120 billion in the next decade.

The two-day event, which aims to support the growth of the country’s industrial sector, will also witness further announcements.

These include the launch of 30 industrial projects worth more than AED6 billion, which involves the creation of the first hydrogen electrolysed plant in the UAE.

Al Jaber revealed that over AED20 billion will be allocated via Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to buy structures and metal products exclusively from national factories.

“This will provide more opportunities to manufacture products such as cables and pipes,” he said.

Financing sustainable solutions

Competitive financing solutions worth AED5 billion from First Abu Dhabi Bank and AED1 billion from Mashreq Bank will be afforded to the industrial sector.

Al Jaber, who is also Cop28 president-designate, said a new standard would be adopted with the national in-country value programme, called Green ICV, “to encourage sustainability practices and motivate companies to reduce emissions”.

He said: “It is our responsibility to demonstrate the feasibility of working concurrently towards two objectives: reducing emissions and achieving sustainable growth.”

Overall Al Jaber said 5,000 sustainable job opportunities would be created for UAE nationals in the industrial sector, with support from Nafis, the Emirati talent competitiveness council, and the Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation.

Throughout 2022 the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology increased the value of the UAE’s industrial exports to AED175 billion, a 49 percent uptick on the previous year.

Under the ministry’s national strategy, the UAE aims to increase the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP to more than AED300 billion by 2031. Last year it grew to AED182 billion, up from AED132 billion in 2020.