Name: Fortune Global Forum 2023: UAE On The World Stage
Uploaded: 2023-11-27
Duration: 16 min 11 s
Description: H.E. Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation; Chief Executive Officer, Expo City Dubai Authority In conversation with: Hala Gorani, International Correspondent, Journalist, and Author

H.E. Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation; Chief Executive Officer, Expo City Dubai Authority In conversation with: Hala Gorani, International Correspondent, Journalist, and Author

Fortune Global Forum 2023: UAE On The World Stage 

 Photograph by Katarina Premfors/Fortune.

Conferences

H.E. Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation; Expo City Dubai Authority In conversation with: Hala Gorani, International Correspondent, Journalist, and Author

Well as Fortune's Ceo Alan Murray spoke about a little earlier, Abu Dhabi is a key player for international Business and trade and a place where conversations of global significance continue to unfold in the form of high level gatherings like this one. The same can be said for the entirety of the United Arab Emirates. It's established itself as a formidable player on the world stage, showcasing its leadership through its commitment to innovation, sustainability, and cultural exchange and fostering meaningful dialogues that resonate far beyond its borders. We're honored to be joined today by one of the UAE ministers who plays a key role in bolstering the U AES position on the world stage. Her excellency, Reem Al Hashemi is the United Arab Emirates Minister of State for International Cooper Operation and she is the Chief Executive Officer of Expo City Dubai Authority. Her excellency joins international correspondent and journalist Hala Gorani to talk about the future of the UAE. Hello, it is my distinct pleasure to be here uh today and thank you so much for your Excellency uh for having this conversation with us within the context of this really already fascinating forum that is talking about so many of the important issues regionally, which we're gonna talk about with you and globally as well, which you're so much a part of in your role as Minister of State, as well as in your role as CEO of uh of Dubai Expo 2020. Uh This was a huge international event that you were for many years tasked with putting together and we're going to talk about the lessons that you drew from that. So, thank you. Thank you. Once again, let me ask you. First of all, about the U AES role internationally, we were discussing backstage that the center of gravity, whether it's economic, diplomatic, political of this region has shifted to the UAE in particular and to the Gulf in general. How do you capitalize on that? Thank you, Hannah and thank you to all of the audience here and to Fortune Global Forum for inviting me. Um traditionally, if one is a student of history, one would see that the center of gravity has been moving further and further towards the east. And as a young nation, the UAE is only 52 years or so. Our focus has primarily been built on how we foster strong relations and friendships and collaboration within our direct parameter as a nation but also with countries around the world. Now, in the beginning of our journey, we started very strongly with a focus on necessary hard infrastructure to really build up a society in a manner that could bring economic prowess, but also incredible ambition. And that's where mustard came about. That's where Irena came about. Um Expo 2020. Uh We're hosting cop in a few days. We'll be hosting the WTO Ministerial next year. And this gives you a sense of how my country looks at itself. But more importantly, that important um constructive and positive role we must play in the region beyond it, but also towards the planet. And so we've always had a sort of like a can do approach, uh always looking at uh new forms of technology, but also new forms of doing things. So a really innovative approach to tackling the challenges around us. And in recent years, and we've all learned a lot from COVID and COVID should have taught us a lot as well, which was not to rely on global supply chains, which was to really focus on that angle of innovation. But also how do you deepen ties? And so since COVID, we really looked at deepening SEPA agreements, these are the comprehensive Economic Partnership agreements. And so we've signed quite a few um with India, with Indonesia, uh just recently finished with South Korea. And so when you speak Hala of things moving towards the East, you will see that really, that's where a lot of the trade and investment uh angles take for. And that, that's a great illustration of it. This move East. So what does that do to your relationships with the West, uh doesn't really do much with them. Actually, it's, it's not one or the other. It's about how deeply do you lean in, in terms of investing more and um paying more attention to how you could deepen it further. We have some pretty strong uh strategic relationships in the West, but now also increasingly in the east and where, what industries, what sectors are you most excited about in the future when it comes to moving East first? So and this was also a little bit in your earlier panel, there is a lot around digitization. And so we've seen this um demonstrated uh quite a lot in some of the partners that are here in this forum, but also in some of the new flagship companies within the UAE. And the focus is beyond digitization is how do you look at stronger infrastructure development? You focus a lot on health, on agriculture, agricultural technology, underpinning it though is this new reality we're living in which is a planet that is struggling. And one of the main drivers of hosting cop 28 is what is a positive contribution from the UAE in partnership with everybody present for this larger cause, which is the planet that is struggling. And here I think it would be a little crazy for companies that are interested in uh going into the future without going in with a really strong willed and strong minded ESG 2.0 approach. And I think the UAE has already picked up on uh how to mobilize that and how to strengthen that. And in many ways, that's also um why Expo City Dubai today is really looking at positioning herself as a place that could attract that caliber of company and entity. And it, it's what lessons did you draw from that? Because if you mentioned cop 28 is coming up, you also had your experience with Expo City Dubai 2020. All of that put together it, it's, it's not just um the, I mean, it's not just the knowledge that we need to be more environmentally conscious, certainly more friendly to the climate as the world continues to heat, et cetera. But it's how do you implement that? How do you put that in motion in a way that makes business sense, right? Because that's where you have to strike that note as well. So today increasingly you'll see companies that don't have a purpose around the planet, not actually making business sense in the long run because the public no longer wants to associate with an entity that isn't more environmentally focused or climatically conscious. I should say. Um when you speak of lessons learned, I can, I can only say that from, from my humble experience um with Expo 2020. If you're not listening carefully, you're going to miss the boat and the world today is consistently and pretty loudly saying, and we have seen mother nature demonstrate also that the planet isn't doing so well. If we're not responding to that, we will no longer have a place to be in, but also we will not no longer have a relevancy in the overall equation and it will bypass us completely. And so there's a real commitment to focus on what does green technology look like and how do you leapfrog as best as you can yourself, but also your partners and friends in that journey. And what does it look like? What, what, what do you think it looks like? Especially a a and one of the I was here for a, just a few weeks ago and some of the representatives of companies and nations in the global South said there's an, there's something unfair about expecting us to adhere to some of these carbon reduction um standards when we haven't benefited from uh the very um polluting technologies that Western countries they adopted for 100 years. How do you, how do you come up with a global approach when actors around the world do not believe that they, for instance, should be held to the same rules? That that's something I heard a lot and, and that's a very uh prominent uh narrative and that's why the cop 28 team will be going through intense deliberations around it. But what it also says, hella is that today, everybody knows what's going on, the speed and the scale in which information and knowledge gets transferred is beyond our wildest imagination. And so the global south, they know right now we don't have our phones with us, but the phone, which is almost like, um, another body part at this stage, they see who has access to what and they wonder, well, why not us? Do we not have the right to have roads and highways and airports and hospitals? And therefore why should our developmental agenda come at the cost of an energy question? Right. And so we're dealing with a very different um scenario now because it's no longer about you sit here and we're gonna do what we need to do up there. We're all on an equal platform, an equal playing field. And sure there are, you know, none of us are naive. Nobody in this room is naive, there are strengths and there are power influencers, certainly. However, having said that the global South and the countries who are on a quest for a developmental agenda also deserve to have that agenda addressed. And that's why I mentioned leapfrogging earlier because there are ways to now do this in a manner that doesn't necessarily need you to go through every step as past developmental agendas have been. So there's no retrofitting, you can kind of leapfrog to the newest technology and that's something that obviously countries in the global South would embrace and it would make economic sense for let's talk a little bit more about the UAE here because it's this panel and this conversation is also about your country's role on the world stage. You mentioned the move East, you mentioned that that doesn't come at the expense of some of the alliances and agreements you have with Western countries. Let's look in the next 10 years or so because from what I understand, you worked for practically almost 10 years on, on the Expo, right? So talk to us about the next 10 years in terms of industry, in terms of sectors, where should we be looking? So I think technology is going to be a very strong enabler across several sectors. So think of technology as a horizontal that will run across quite a few verticals. One important vertical for the UAE is food and agriculture. And we're going to do a lot in that space. We have been doing quite a bit. Um and our minister and those who have been involved in this have really looked at it. But again, because you have the horizontal of technology, you're not looking at typical agricultural approaches, you're looking at really embedding a technological way to increase yield and to also increase efficiency of farming, et cetera, et cetera. The second pillar I would probably say is infrastructure. And you probably noted that when our president is a Sheikh Mohammed bin Zaid was in India for the G 20 we were very much involved in a corridor that linked up the subcontinent through the Arab world and further out. So we, we need to recognize that connectivity and linkages are important. The UAE already has strong ports, it has strong airports, it has a really um really effective uh physical infrastructure, but also a very strong digital infrastructure. So you're going to see more of that beyond the direct parameters of the UAE but engaging with those other partners, I would also say that health care um is probably another space that we're going to get more and more involved in. And again, that horizontal of technology, you don't seem to age at all. But I think as we, as we also define our relationship with our own health, I think a lot of, a lot of times uh you look at getting older but not necessarily feeling better. And so how do you connect wellness? And I hate to say the L word, but longevity in a way that doesn't come at the cost of, of that. And so these are some of the areas of the UAE is looking at and for Expo, for example, and you're right, it was 10 years ago when I was, in fact, it was 10 years ago today, November 27th, 2013 birthday. That's when we won the right to host Expo. That's why I said yes to this forum when they said November 27. That's a special day for us at Expo. So that was when we won 10 years later. I look at how far we've come. And I, and, and to my mind, one or, or two of the things that we did that was important was that we built to last, we didn't build something and then had to take it down. We built something that stayed on. And then the second thing is we built it in a clean way. So all of the best sustainability measures in place at that time, we had put in place. So all our buildings are lead and we have a few platinum and we have um quite a strong, efficient and effective infrastructure that is really ready to host everybody again. Uh At COP 28 just lastly and we have a minute. Uh We're in a very challenging time. I don't have to tell everybody here. Uh There are so many crises simultaneously in the world health conflict, et cetera. If you had to, if you had to look forward and think of one challenge that the UAE needs to overcome, what would it be and why the UAE must continue to be the force of good that she is in this world, in this region and with her partners and friends across the globe, we, we, we believe intrinsically and it's mostly if not entirely based on why and how we were founded as a nation. Have a very strong commitment to the dignity of people, to the need to bring prosperity for us. But also for those that we work closely with and to continue to explore and engage with new and exciting things. So there is a strong level of ambition in, in my nation. And like I said, 52 years in the next 10 years are going to be more, I think, exciting and ambitious for this nation and her people. All right. Your excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much.