H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED); Chairman, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) In conversation with: Alan Murray, FORTUNE
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00:00 So one of the things that's fascinating about being in Abu Dhabi is to see how strategic
00:06 the emirate has been in developing an economic plan for the future.
00:12 The Abu Dhabi 2030 vision plan provided a kind of a road map since it was written in
00:20 2005 that the country has followed to diversify industry beyond oil and also to prepare for
00:28 a post-oil world.
00:30 And we've seen a lot of the evidence of it since we've been here for the last 48 hours,
00:34 but we're going to talk about that a little bit more with our next guest.
00:39 He is our host, His Excellency Ahmed Yassin Al Zabi.
00:44 He's chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, also heads Abu Dhabi
00:49 Global Markets.
00:51 He is a leader of the efforts for economic growth to further enhance the Falcon economy
00:59 and please welcome him to the stage now.
01:03 Good to see you.
01:10 First of all, I have to thank you for a fabulous dinner last night.
01:19 That was quite a spectacular show you put on for us.
01:22 Thanks very much.
01:23 In fact, give His Excellency a round of applause.
01:31 It was great.
01:32 So, it's clear being here in Abu Dhabi that oil is a great boon to your emirate, but it
01:41 can also be, we've seen from historical examples, it can also be a burden because you know it
01:48 won't be there forever to drive you and the efforts that this that Abu Dhabi has made
01:53 to diversify its economy are really quite spectacular.
01:58 Can you talk a little bit about how you keep the focus on diversification and how you're
02:03 thinking about a post-oil economy?
02:06 Well, first thank you for having me and I hope you guys had fun last night.
02:13 We did, we all did.
02:16 I think the world is looking at a transitionary period and I think more so than ever that
02:26 transitionary period is more important to countries that are oil and gas dominant.
02:33 So us too, we have to go through that transition.
02:37 Probably we have to go through it way more than what other countries have to go through.
02:43 So we've been diversifying away from oil and gas.
02:49 We've reached this quarter in Abu Dhabi around 54% of our GDP is non-oil, so we're heading
02:56 towards in the future to 80% of that to be non-oil.
03:01 We have a strategy, a diversification strategy, we have specific sectors that we'll be focusing
03:07 on going forward.
03:10 It's been going very well and hopefully in a couple of years the results are going to
03:16 be more apparent for everyone to see.
03:20 And the 80% non-oil economy, that comes when?
03:26 What's your target date?
03:28 We're still going through the numbers.
03:32 You know there's always a debate between economists on when is the right and responsible date
03:38 of actually putting a target, but we're still going through it.
03:41 However I do not foresee it in the next two to three years of course, but this is a much
03:46 longer period strategy.
03:49 And however I think we'll be there way faster than what people anticipate.
03:55 Faster than anticipated?
03:57 Faster than what people would anticipate.
03:59 All right, so let's talk about some of the pieces of that.
04:03 Finance is a piece very near and dear to your heart.
04:07 I'm not sure everyone fully understands what you've built over there at ADGM, but can you
04:12 talk about where you are taking Abu Dhabi in terms of being a financial hub?
04:20 Well I think Abu Dhabi has all the attributes of a major financial center, a global major
04:27 financial center.
04:28 I think we've got, we're the safest city in the world, we've got amazing infrastructure,
04:34 we've got progressive regulators and progressive regulations in general.
04:41 And I think it's only logical for the financial center of Abu Dhabi to become one of the biggest.
04:52 We're on a trajectory probably to be regionally probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest,
04:58 in the next two to three years.
05:00 That I think will be competing globally on that first place and I think we're on track
05:06 to do so.
05:09 And talk about how you've done that.
05:10 I mean that's an impressive comment you've made.
05:13 You think you're on track to be potentially the largest financial center or one of the
05:19 largest?
05:20 One of the largest.
05:21 I think it's very simple.
05:23 First, I think my problem with regulators before I became the chairman of the financial
05:34 district, the financial center, is they never listen.
05:39 Regulators never listen.
05:40 And so the first thing that I did when I stepped into the financial center is I sat with the
05:46 regulators and said to them, I want you guys to listen to the market and accordingly work
05:53 towards whether re-regulations or deregulations vis-a-vis what the market is asking for.
06:01 And I think that made a big difference in how people perceive the ADGM and why it became
06:10 so attractive and why it attracted a lot of companies and assets into the center.
06:16 And I think that's why we're growing exponentially and we've been doubling every year and I think
06:22 we'll continue with that trajectory and you can see it from the applications.
06:27 And it's not just regulators, it's also a court system.
06:29 You showed me when I visited you this summer your virtual courts at ADGM.
06:35 You have your own court system that is working very well in terms of encouraging people to
06:42 move here.
06:43 Yes, so the financial center at ADGM has an English common law jurisdiction.
06:50 It's a direct application of English common law in the region.
06:53 I think there's three that are direct applications.
06:58 It's ADGM, Hong Kong and Singapore.
07:01 And I think there's an advantage of having direct application of English common law.
07:06 And we've got an English common law court.
07:09 So I think we've got, my belief, I think we've got the best bench of judges worldwide.
07:16 I think, and that bench is getting stronger and stronger.
07:20 It's attracting a lot of the best judges in the world into the court system.
07:25 It's also a hybrid court, so you can come physically or you can come, you can do it
07:30 electronically.
07:31 We've got an e-court from end to end.
07:36 That's why during COVID we weren't really affected because we had it end to end electronically.
07:42 And are you seeing people move financial offices from Hong Kong and Singapore to Abu Dhabi?
07:48 I think there has been a big move.
07:51 I mean, the most notable one was, of course, Ray Dalio, the Dalio family office moved to
07:56 ADGM.
07:58 And I think big names are already there, on track to be there soon.
08:06 Some of the very famous names have already moved into ADGM.
08:10 The blue chips that we all know of.
08:13 Ray Dalio will be here tomorrow, so we'll ask him about why he made the move.
08:18 Maybe he'll have some good words to say about what you've done.
08:20 Let's talk about some of the other industries.
08:22 Healthcare has been a big focus.
08:23 Can you talk about what you're doing there?
08:25 Yes.
08:26 I think life sciences in general is going to play a pivotal role in our diversification,
08:32 you know, going forward.
08:33 I think, you know, we're investing a lot in life sciences in general, you know, and, you
08:40 know, whether it's, we've already made the first step into vaccines, but we're expanding
08:46 even more in other areas.
08:49 You know, we think healthcare in general is going to be a pivotal, not only as a cornerstone
08:55 of attracting talent into the country, but also healthcare from a perspective of actually
09:02 exporting, you know, that industry outside to other countries.
09:07 So that's where, it's not only health, life sciences and healthcare, we're also focusing
09:11 on, we've spoken about finance services, but we also are heavily focusing on technology,
09:18 which is going to be a major sector in the UAE.
09:23 Specifically, I think we're also investing a lot into AI.
09:27 We've got several initiatives that we have.
09:30 We're investing a lot in autonomous vehicles.
09:33 We just announced the SAVI cluster, which is the smart autonomous vehicle industries
09:38 that has been attracting a lot of big players in autonomous vehicles also to come here.
09:42 Yeah, we're, diverse sector mix.
09:45 We're going to talk about some of the things going on in the area of AI in, in the UAE
09:50 later on today with the, the world's only minister of AI, I believe.
09:59 But, but I want to talk to you about alternative energy a little bit, because I know that's
10:03 been an area of focus and there are clearly people in the world, former vice president
10:09 Al Gore is one of them, who, who, who believe you can't be producing oil and investing in
10:17 alternative energy at the same time, that there's a conflict of interest there and you
10:21 can't be trusted with the transition.
10:23 Tell me how Abu Dhabi is managing that, making so much money off the sale of fossil fuels,
10:30 but at the same time, seriously investing in the next generation of technologies.
10:34 You know, I wish the world is, is, is, is a switch because that statement would have
10:42 been very accurate.
10:44 However, you know, unfortunately and to disappoint me to a lot, to a lot of people, the world
10:50 is not a switch.
10:51 You know, it needs, that's why it's called transition.
10:54 You need to transition into something else.
10:57 Countries don't move, the world cannot move from one energy source to another energy source
11:02 just by switching a switch and saying let's go all renewable.
11:05 It's, it's, it's much bigger than that.
11:07 So naturally, you know, it's important that, you know, we transition responsibly also going
11:14 forward.
11:15 What we have been doing, renewable energy is not a new sector for the UAE or Abu Dhabi,
11:21 you know.
11:22 We've, we've invested in renewable energy since 2005 when people didn't believe that
11:25 renewable was, you know, important at that time.
11:30 You know, we've invested, we've put a lot of money into, into, into that.
11:34 We have one of the biggest companies in the world, Mazda, that is doing that.
11:37 So we've always believed in renewable and we've always believed in transitioning.
11:41 We always knew that it's time to transition.
11:44 We have the cleanest, lowest cost barrel in the world.
11:49 We know, we know when you look at, it's, it's, when I talk about people, I say to people
11:54 that barrel of oil was not the cleanest out of coincidence.
11:59 We've worked on that throughout the years, you know, zero flaring policy were there since
12:03 the 90s, you know, and, and Abu Dhabi, it wasn't a phenomena that we just came across.
12:09 So we've been using that, those funds that we're generating out of the oil and gas sector
12:14 to actually transition, transition in renewables and transition into other sectors like financial
12:21 services, tourism, healthcare, life sciences, and technology in general.
12:26 So that's how we transition.
12:29 And I think it will do the world a disservice if we switch off the lights in one go.
12:36 I think everything is important.
12:38 We need to transition responsibly and we need to be aware that, you know, not everyone's
12:42 privileged around the world as, as, as some are in some, in some places.
12:46 So we need to be aware of that.
12:47 When do you think you will turn off the switch on oil, if ever?
12:55 I mean, the discussions in general in the world is about peak oil.
12:59 When will that peak oil be?
13:01 You know, and that, that, that point has been moving from one year to another.
13:08 So we used to say 2040, then 2035, then 2030.
13:14 No one really knows, you know, when that peak oil is.
13:18 But what's important is, is when, when, is not when will we switch off the, the, the,
13:26 the lights on, on oil and gas is actually when can we actually be carbon neutral?
13:33 When can be, when can we reach a stage as a world, as a globally where we actually do
13:38 not need oil anymore?
13:39 That's what's important, I think, for us.
13:41 And I think that's, that's not any time soon.
13:44 I don't think it's going to be in 2030.
13:47 I think it's going to take some time.
13:48 But I think we're getting very close to that.
13:51 Yeah.
13:52 Last question.
13:53 I know all you're talking about.
13:54 You have these ambitious technology plans, healthcare, finance, alternative energy.
14:00 To do all of that, you need talent.
14:03 Abu Dhabi, the UAE, fairly small population.
14:08 Can you get the talent you need to meet your grand ambitions?
14:13 I mean, 100%.
14:16 I don't think that there is anywhere in the world that is as attractive as the UAE.
14:26 You know, I think progressive regulations has 200 nationalities.
14:32 You know, a tolerant country, neutral country, objective, you know, amazing weather, most
14:39 part of the year, let's say nine months of the year, you know.
14:43 I was here in August.
14:45 But very safe and the safest city in the world.
14:48 Four of the safest cities, four of the top ten safest cities in the world are cities
14:54 of the UAE.
14:55 So that tells you why talent will always be attractive in here.
14:59 So I think we're already doing that.
15:03 We're attracting a lot of talent.
15:05 But I think, you know, in the next couple of years, I think the UAE and probably the
15:12 region also, I think, will be a magnet to a lot of the talent around the world.
15:17 Your Excellency, thank you for that.
15:19 Thank you for the dinner last night, your partnership with this conference.
15:23 We hope we can do it again in the future.
15:26 Thank you very much.
15:27 Thank you for having me.
15:28 Thank you.
15:28 (Applause.)
15:29 (END)
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