Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri says the UAE’s response has focused on three key priorities: protecting continuity, protect confidence, and keeping the long-term agenda moving
The UAE will focus on structural growth over the medium-term as it slowly recovers from the effects of war, a UAE minister said.
“Beyond the immediate phase, over the medium run, our focus remains on structural growth,” said Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism.
He was speaking at the third edition of Economy Middle East Summit, held in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and which brought together different entities in the economic sector.
The Minister added that recovery will not be linear across sectors, as some took a harder hit than others. Much of the decline in consumption was linked to the tourism shock, he said, and not due to a collapse in domestic demand.
“The UAE does not need a new economic model per se, it needs to press hard on the right levers,” the Minister said, which include talent, growth capital, and supply chains.
UAE’s diversified economy
The Minister pointed out that the country’s economic diversification is what held it together throughout this rough period. The UAE’s non-oil activities accounted for more than 77 per cent of the GDP, which allowed the economy to sustain geopolitical shocks much more quickly than other developing nations.
He said the UAE’s response has focused on three key priorities: protecting continuity, protect confidence, and keeping the long-term agenda moving.
“We are not pausing our ambition because the region is going through a difficult phase,” Al Marri said. “On the contrary, periods like this reinforce the importance of continuing reforms, accelerating execution, and crowding capital into sectors that strengthen resilience and create long-term value.”
“We’re meeting in an unusual moment. The region has gone through one of its most serious conflicts in decades,” he added. “In such moments, the first test is security. The second is continuity. And the third is confidence.”
“My message to businesses is simple. Diversify suppliers, build redundancy into logistic panic, and share real-time information and move away from just-in-time thinking in strategic areas,” Al Marri advised.
The Minister highlighted its policies on keeping the price of goods in check, but at the same time recognised that some businesses did face genuine cost pressures due to rising energy prices and logistic challenges.
“The objective is not to freeze the market, but to keep it fair, functioning and credible,” he said.
