The highest levels of the UAE government are taking a long look at how the country has to prepare to succeed after the oil finishes.
The UAE has been working for many years on how to diversify its economy from its early reliance on oil into a wider range of industries and services that will allow it to flourish without the benefit of its abundant oil revenues. But getting the economy into the position that it can start to diversify is only a beginning.
There are a myriad of different actions that are required to build an entire post-oil society in a very short time frame, as the UAE expects to be able to run its economy without relying on oil in a matter of decades. For example, new skills will be needed from the population, including new attitudes to work and careers; the government will need to look at new sources of revenue; and new laws will have to be drafted to manage a new situation.
This is why the ongoing ministerial retreat has formed four different ministerial action groups in order to look into what is required for a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and new technologies, how to build the required skilled human capital and keep it in the UAE, the necessary changes in governance, including sustainable financing, and how the community will change, while also nurturing the social welfare of Emirati families.
Some important steps have already been taken, such as Abu Dhabi’s plan to focus on nine major industries that are both economically strategic for the UAE, and also based on high levels of technology that puts them into the knowledge economy in which the UAE knows it has to excel if it is to a be a world leader in the future.
But underlying all of this is the future of the Emiratis and how they will fit into this future. Strong and effective education, teaching critical thinking and readiness to absorb new skills are at the heart of any hope of success. This places a huge burden on the UAE’s schools to match these expectations, which is why the ongoing transformation of the curriculum is so important. As the UAE population grows more and more, Emiratis will take their place in the economy and they will need to have the skills to be leaders and managers in technologies and industries that many of us are still not even aware of.