UAE will script a post-pandemic recovery around high technology, says Dr. Sultan Al Jaber

Abu Dhabi: The UAE will continue to place technology at the forefront of its economic strategy for job growth, with the pandemic highlighting now more than ever the need for new technologies, according to Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology.

“The UAE believes advanced technologies have a vital role to play in protecting and enhancing global supply chains from global shocks,” the minister said at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), which was held virtually. “We will also nurture a knowledge based economy and create an ecosystem that supports and creates sustainable jobs.”

It was recently that the UAE created the Ministry for Industry and Advanced Technology. “The core mandate of the new ministry is to increase our competitiveness, reinforce our resilience, and build long lasting in-country value by accelerating economic diversification,” he added.

“At the centre of this mandate is breakthrough technology, which we will leverage to enhance industrial performance and enable better integration between sectors.”

Reset

Badr Al Olama, executive director for Aerospace at Mubadala and the head of the GMIS organising committee, said that industries would have to adapt to the new normal. “In a very short space of time consumer needs have changed forcing manufacturers to adjust their products and services beyond the distortions imposed by the pandemic,” he added.

“Entire workforces will need to be up-skilled and repurposed to catch up with the pace of change. We need to view the economic recovery from the pandemic as an opportunity, to reform and welcome a new transformation that may very well change the course of our lives for the better.”